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February 5, 2010
J.
Clifford Hudson
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Sonic Corp.
300 Johnny Bench Drive
Oklahoma City, OK 73104
Dear
Mr. Hudson,
On
behalf of the 115,000 members of our organization, I
write to express our displeasure with your recent
decision to adopt a new animal welfare policy.
When
our members learned that the Humane Society of the
United States was publicly applauding your decision
to begin phasing in cage-free eggs and acquiring
pork from facilities that do not use breeding hog
gestation stalls, they were upset, to say the very
least.
The farmers who raise poultry and
livestock are hard-working family farmers who care
deeply about the animals in their care. Common sense
business decision-making and something much more
important – values-driven morality – drives farmers
and ranchers who raise animals.
I am
confident you are aware by now that the Humane
Society of the United States is an animal rights
group often confused with local community humane
shelters. HSUS has no affiliation with local pet
shelters and is, in fact, a powerful, well-funded
activist organization pursuing what most reasonable
observers would consider an extreme anti-animal
agenda.
HSUS
seeks to remove meat from our dinner tables, leather
goods from our closets, animals from zoos and
circuses and eventually – pets from our families.
HSUS operates with a multi-million dollar budget and
has net assets exceeding $200 million.
The
goals and aims of the Humane Society of the United
States stand in direct opposition to the
livelihoods, hopes and dreams of farmers and
ranchers in Kansas. The same rings true for Main
Street merchants in the communities that serve them
and thoughtful, common sense folks across the
country.
We’re proud to be a mainstream general farm
organization, advocating for family farmers and
ranchers.
I
don’t have to tell you that our membership is a
significant part of your customer base. Sonic
drive-ins are often the only establishment of its
kind in the hometowns of many of our members. I have
heard from literally hundreds of our members who
say, as a result of your decision, they’ve made
their last visit to Sonic.
We
strongly urge you to reconsider this decision.
Sincerely,
Steve Baccus, president
Kansas Farm Bureau
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