Dalai Lama doesn't want a KFC in Tibet
NEW DELHI (AP) — The Dalai Lama has appealed to U.S.-based Yum Brands (YUM) not to open a fast-food KFC chicken outlet in his homeland of Tibet, according to an animal rights advocacy group. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals released a letter it said was from the Dalai Lama, telling the restaurant chain that his people believe in slaughtering animals humanely — and eat larger ones such as yaks so that fewer animals will die. Most Tibetans are not vegetarians.
In Louisville, a Yum spokesman said the company had not received the letter.
"While we haven't received a letter from His Holiness, we understand he's a strict vegetarian so it doesn't surprise us that he's opposed to eating chicken," said Yum spokesman Jonathan Blum.
"We have no plans today to enter Tibet," Blum said.
The Dalai Lama's office could not immediately be reached for comment.
KFC operates in every Chinese province and region except Tibet. The company's representative in Beijing said in January it had plans to enter Tibet, but couldn't say when.
The Dalai Lama is the senior spiritual leader for Tibetan Buddhists who fled Tibet after a failed 1959 revolt against Chinese rule. He was followed by more than 120,000 Tibetan refugees who settled with him in the northern Indian mountain town of Dharmsala, where Indian authorities have allowed him to set up a government-in-exile.
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