"Leave Our Slaughterhouse Alone, West Town Renters Tell Animal Rights Group"

By Alisa Hauser, October 2017

WEST TOWN — Two renters who live above a West Town live chicken market are defending the shop in the wake of animal rights activists demanding Pollos Vivos be closed.  

"We’d love to provide an alternate viewpoint to the protesters on how a small neighborhood shop has been operating as a community center as well as a source for cheap, healthy, humane food for the neighborhood for decades," Alex Burkholder said.

Burkholder, a project manager at an architecture firm, has lived above Alliance Poultry Market — which does business under the name Pollos Vivos — for six years. His neighbor Logan Deane, a lawyer, moved to another apartment above Pollos Vivos about two years ago.

The activists' characterization of the shop at 1636 W. Chicago Ave. as a slaughterhouse was "one sided," Burkholder and Deane said.

"The chickens are Amish as the protester acknowledged, and they're absolutely delicious. They arrive every night (took a while to get used to the clucking!) and when you go into the shop, they let you pick which chicken you're getting before they butcher it for you," Burkholder said.

Burkholder added, "It's disappointing that the protesters are targeting a locally-owned, farm-to-table shop like this when it's as close of an educational opportunity about where food comes from as you can get in the city. You see the chickens alive and well before you eat them. Circle of life."

Nick Abdallah is the 32-year-old son of Fayyad "Fred" Abdallah, who owns Pollos Vivos with Wasif "Wally" Shehadeh. He said the negative exposure from Chicago Animal Save and its unplanned visit, was "very intense."

"This country is built on freedom of speech and you also have the freedom to eat whatever you want as long as it's not illegal. They had a problem with people killing chickens and they came to the bottom of the pyramid. If you shut down a mom-and-pop store in Chicago it does not mean Mariano's and Jewel will not sell chicken anymore," Nick Abdallah said.

Neither Nick Abdallah nor his father or uncle were in Pollos Vivos at the time when the protesters came by  — but Pollos Vivos workers agreed to give the activists a tour.

"The guys who were in there don't mind giving a tour. They like to show people the process. It's all by the book. English is not their first language; they felt very deceived. They didn't know until later that [the protestors] were trying to kill our livelihood," Nick Abdallah said.

During the short tour, the protestors linked arms in front of the chicken cages and took photos of the chickens. They decorated the cages with long-stemmed roses and published a video on Facebook.

Abdallah grew up helping his dad in the store, which was initially started in 1953 as a Kosher live chicken market. Fred Abdallah and his brother-in-law Wally Shehadah bought the business from the previous owners in 1982.

Pollos Vivos, which has a second location on the South Side, employs 11 people, or "supports 11 families," as Abdallah says. The workers speak Middle Eastern languages and Spanish.

"We serve Hispanic and Asian and American customers who wants to eat healthier. We are swamped right now [with business] for the Chinese Moon Festival holiday, " Nick Abdallah said.

Nick Abdallah said the live chickens at Pollos Vivos come from Amish farms in Indiana. The chickens are in a cage for 48 hours before being slaughtered. At any given time there are about 200 live chickens in Pollos Vivos, he said.

Chickens at the West Town location sell for $2.19 a pound when alive and live turkeys, which are popular at Thanksgiving, are $2.29 pound live. Once dressed and cleaned, the birds loses some weight.

Deane, who frequently buys chicken and eggs from Pollos Vivos, said the shop "offers a healthy, sustainable, and inexpensive option for all members of the community, not just those who can afford the luxury condo price tag."

"The shop has a TV in front and there are always groups of people hanging out, enjoying conversation and keeping their eyes on Chicago Avenue. There's almost always an elote cart out front, serving corn and watermelon and drinks. Pollos Vivos pretty uniquely ties together the traditional family crowd with the newer hipster wave that's recently moved into the neighborhood," Dean said.

And as for those long stemmed roses the activist stuck into the chicken cages?

Abdallah said the roses are currently in a flower pot for decoration.

"[The workers] did not want to kill the roses and gave them water, " Abdallah said.

(originally posted on DNAinfo https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20171004/west-town/pollos-vivos-live-chickens-animal-rights-cages-slaughterhouse-abdallah)

Chicago Animal Save Stands Up for Chickens & Other Small Animals Being Killed in Chicago

So...the article ends with implying the irony and humor, HAHA!!, that the workers tried to save the roses the CAS folks placed on the cages of the animals about to be killed and comparing this to the animals killed at the slaughterhouse . . .  I will let you read for yourselves!

" 'Leave Our Slaughterhouse Alone,' West Town Renters Tell Animal Rights Group"

By Alisa Hauser, DNAinfo

WEST TOWN — Two renters who live above a West Town live chicken market are defending the shop in the wake of animal rights activists demanding Pollos Vivos be closed.

"We’d love to provide an alternate viewpoint to the protesters on how a small neighborhood shop has been operating as a community center as well as a source for cheap, healthy, humane food for the neighborhood for decades," Alex Burkholder said.

Burkholder, a project manager at an architecture firm, has lived above Alliance Poultry Market — which does business under the name Pollos Vivos — for six years. His neighbor Logan Deane, a lawyer, moved to another apartment above Pollos Vivos about two years ago.

The activists' characterization of the shop at 1636 W. Chicago Ave. as a slaughterhouse was "one sided," Burkholder and Deane said.

"The chickens are Amish as the protester acknowledged, and they're absolutely delicious. They arrive every night (took a while to get used to the clucking!) and when you go into the shop, they let you pick which chicken you're getting before they butcher it for you," Burkholder said.

Burkholder added, "It's disappointing that the protesters are targeting a locally-owned, farm-to-table shop like this when it's as close of an educational opportunity about where food comes from as you can get in the city. You see the chickens alive and well before you eat them. Circle of life."

Nick Abdallah is the 32-year-old son of Fayyad "Fred" Abdallah, who owns Pollos Vivos with Wasif "Wally" Shehadeh. He said the negative exposure from Chicago Animal Save and its unplanned visit, was "very intense."

"This country is built on freedom of speech and you also have the freedom to eat whatever you want as long as it's not illegal. They had a problem with people killing chickens and they came to the bottom of the pyramid. If you shut down a mom-and-pop store in Chicago it does not mean Mariano's and Jewel will not sell chicken anymore," Nick Abdallah said.

Neither Nick Abdallah nor his father or uncle were in Pollos Vivos at the time when the protesters came by  — but Pollos Vivos workers agreed to give the activists a tour.

"The guys who were in there don't mind giving a tour. They like to show people the process. It's all by the book. English is not their first language; they felt very deceived. They didn't know until later that [the protestors] were trying to kill our livelihood," Nick Abdallah said.

During the short tour, the protestors linked arms in front of the chicken cages and took photos of the chickens. They decorated the cages with long-stemmed roses and published a video on Facebook.

Abdallah grew up helping his dad in the store, which was initially started in 1953 as a Kosher live chicken market. Fred Abdallah and his brother-in-law Wally Shehadah bought the business from the previous owners in 1982.

Pollos Vivos, which has a second location on the South Side, employs 11 people, or "supports 11 families," as Abdallah says. The workers speak Middle Eastern languages and Spanish.

"We serve Hispanic and Asian and American customers who wants to eat healthier. We are swamped right now [with business] for the Chinese Moon Festival holiday, " Nick Abdallah said.

Nick Abdallah said the live chickens at Pollos Vivos come from Amish farms in Indiana. The chickens are in a cage for 48 hours before being slaughtered. At any given time there are about 200 live chickens in Pollos Vivos, he said.

Chickens at the West Town location sell for $2.19 a pound when alive and live turkeys, which are popular at Thanksgiving, are $2.29 pound live. Once dressed and cleaned, the birds loses some weight.

Deane, who frequently buys chicken and eggs from Pollos Vivos, said the shop "offers a healthy, sustainable, and inexpensive option for all members of the community, not just those who can afford the luxury condo price tag."

"The shop has a TV in front and there are always groups of people hanging out, enjoying conversation and keeping their eyes on Chicago Avenue. There's almost always an elote cart out front, serving corn and watermelon and drinks. Pollos Vivos pretty uniquely ties together the traditional family crowd with the newer hipster wave that's recently moved into the neighborhood," Dean said.

And as for those long stemmed roses the activist stuck into the chicken cages?

Abdallah said the roses are currently in a flower pot for decoration.

"[The workers] did not want to kill the roses and gave them water, " Abdallah said.

TO VIEW THE VIDEO IN FULL CLICK HERE

(from https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20171004/west-town/pollos-vivos-live-chickens-animal-rights-cages-slaughterhouse-abdallah)

"West Town Chicken Slaughterhouse Targeted By Animal Rights Group"

By Alisa Hauser, September 2017

WEST TOWN — About 25 activists tried to shut down Chicago Avenue on Monday to protest a chicken slaughterhouse that often attracts long lines from customers seeking fresh poultry.

The Monday morning interference perplexed Pollos Vivos butcher Sam Abed, who said that he allowed some members of the activist group to take a tour of the facility last Thursday, 1636 W. Chicago Ave.

"They said to stop it, to change the business. This is like someone coming to say, 'I want no snow in Chicago.' How do you handle it? She said she feels bad for the animals. I said, 'You don't have to see it,' " said Abed.

"I wish they would have went to KFC; they kill a lot more chickens across America, but they come to a small mom-and-pop store," he added.

Kelsey Atkinson, an organizer from Chicago Animal Save, said that Monday's protest — which was peacefully broken up by Chicago police around 10 a.m. —  was inspired by the tour that two Chicago Animal Save members took of Alliance Poultry Farm Market, which operates under the name Pollos Vivos, which is Spanish for live chickens.

During the tour, the protestors snapped photos and took videos of the chickens. When the protestors returned on Monday, they left roses in the chicken cages.

On Monday night, the group posted a video of Monday's protest on their Facebook page.

"Compassion is intrinsic in everyone, we just get conditioned out of it by the constant brainwashing from the media, which exists for one thing - profit," activist Alana Parekh said in a statement posted with the video.

It urged viewers to "listen to your heart — are you a protector or a predator?"

"We are determined to change the direction of our food system for the benefit of everyone — animals and humans alike," Parekh said, adding that part of its mission is to "convince slaughterhouse workers to surrender animals for rescue."

"We selected Alliance Poultry because they specialize in Amish, free-range chickens and we believe that it does not matter how humanely the animals may have been raised, it is still wrong to kill them," Atkinson told DNAinfo on Tuesday.

Atkinson said that during the protest some people walking or driving by put up their fists "in solidarity."

Officer Nicole Trainor, a Chicago Police spokeswoman, confirmed officers "responded to a call of disturbance with protestors blocking traffic" around 10:04 a.m. Monday in the 1600 block of West Chicago Avenue. Trainor said no arrests were made.

Pollos Vivos owner Fayyad Abdallah was out of town last week and this week, according to Abed, who said that the owner allowed for the tour.

"Nobody ate meat. They stayed 10 or 15 minutes and they left," Abed said.

In a news release, Atkinson said, "This slaughterhouse’s gruesomeness just underlines the horrible and unnecessary violence inherent to all slaughterhouses in Chicago and beyond. It is our mission to expose and shut down these slaughterhouses once and for all."

Activists with Chicago Animal Save have been blocking slaughterhouse trucks and holding vigils for animals since October 2016, according to a news release. Earlier on Monday before Pollos Vivos, Atkinson said Chicago Animal Save activists also protested at Halsted Packing House, 445 N. Halsted St. and Park Packing, 4107 S. Ashland Ave.

The Pollos Vivos slaughterhouse has been operating for 64 years under a variety of names.

Abed said that the slaughterhouse was started in 1953 and that Abdallah took over the business from the founding owners in 1982.

After last Thursday's tour, three of the activist posted a reaction video on Facebook and vowed to come back to Pollos Vivos. They said near the end of their visit, they tried to save a chicken and take the bird with them, but were unsuccessful.

(originally posted on DNAinfo https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170926/west-town/pollos-vivos-alliance-poultry-farm-market-west-town-live-chickens-chicago-ashland)