Tuesday, May 29, 2007

McDonald's Fixes Containers for Hedgehogs

(Gibe)
In 2006, the British Hedgehog Preservation Society convinced McDonald's to alter the lids on their McFlurry dessert containers. Hedgehogs were getting trapped in discarded containers. From the World Wild Foundation:

It has been a long hard battle, but the British Hedgehog Preservation Society is celebrating the news that McDonald’s have changed the lid on their McFlurry dessert!

The original containers trapped many hedgehogs, some were released by kindly passers by, some were found dead, and it will never be known how many were never found at all. The new lid has a smaller aperture so the customer will take the lid off to get to the ice cream. Even if the cup does get thrown to the floor with the lid attached, the hole should be too small for hedgehogs to push into.

A spokesperson from McDonalds said “In consultation with the BHPS, we have undertaken significant research and testing to develop new packaging for our McFlurry dessert that addresses this issue. We are delighted to announce that we have now introduced a new lid with a smaller aperture for our McFlurry dessert. The smaller aperture of the lid has been designed to prevent hedgehogs from entering the McFlurry container in the unfortunate incidence that a lid is littered and is then accessible to wildlife.

Our restaurants and packaging will continue to display anti-littering messaging to encourage our customers to dispose of their litter responsibly, and we conduct daily litter patrols whereby we collect not only McDonald’s packaging but also any other litter that has been carelessly discarded.”

Fay Vass, Chief Executive of the Society said “This is excellent, if long overdue news! We have been in touch with McDonald’s about this problem for over five years, and are delighted that they have at last solved the problem. Thanks to public support of our campaign, from the 1st September 2006 every McDonald’s restaurant in the UK will be using the new lids on their McFlurry cups and by doing so many hedgehog lives will be saved.”

So, you can get a corporate giant to alter their products. I'm going to start a campaign to convince McDonald's to bring back the Shamrock Shake in a low-fat, low-sugar digestible form.
(from x-entertainment.com)