Animal rights extremist organizations are known for pressuring restaurant and retail brands from many fronts, and unfortunately sometimes they have powerful allies. One of HSUS’s strongest allies in its efforts to push brands to adopt certain policies under the guise of improving animal welfare (make no mistake, the true intention is to reduce efficiency and drive up costs, forcing consumers to buy less meat) is activist investor Carl Icahn.

Icahn first connected with then-HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle in 2011, a collaboration Pacelle described in detail in his book, “The Humane Economy.” Icahn reached out to Pacelle at the suggestion of his daughter, then an HSUS employee. Icahn was allegedly essential in HSUS’s campaign to get McDonald’s to pledge to end the use of gestation stalls in its pork supply chain, a commitment the brand made in 2012 that comes due this year.

Icahn is now apparently back on the case and has teamed up with HSUS to pressure McDonald’s once again. Icahn and HSUS claim that McDonald’s is not truly upholding its pledge because producers are able to keep sows in stalls until they are confirmed pregnant, while they expected the use of crates to be banned altogether. Icahn, who owns a small amount of stock in McDonald’s, has launched a proxy fight for two board seats. Icahn’s board nominees are Leslie Samuelrich, a “sustainability-focused investor,” and Maisie Ganzler, an executive at Bon Appetit Management Company – both have ties to HSUS and activism.

Samuelson and her firm, Green Century Capital Management, have collaborated previously to pressure brands and Ganzler and Bon Appetit have publicly supported the work of HSUS for a long time. McDonald’s shareholders will vote on these nominees at its annual shareholder meeting in the spring, unless an agreement is reached before then on the use of gestation stalls.

It's not surprising that groups like HSUS and its allies continue to disrupt the ability of restaurant and retail brands to oversee their own operations and bring nutritious, affordable and delicious meat, poultry, dairy, eggs and seafood to the vast majority of us who choose to eat them. If HSUS’s claims that consumers are clamoring for these policy changes are true, why would they need to go to such lengths to intervene rather than allow the market to move in that direction? Brands, especially publicly-traded ones, will need to prepare for continued attacks and the animal agriculture community will need to step up with additional resources and support.

Activist investor launches campaign against McDonald’s

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