Animal rights activists demonstrated at the Chipotle Restaurant on River Street in Santa Cruz on January 24. A letter was delivered to the manager without notice reminding the company of the abuses animals farmed for food experience. It was a public delivery for patrons to witness.

The demonstration was part of an international campaign organized by Direct Action Everywhere, which released the following statement: "....on the weekend of January 25, activists all over the country will rally in this new year to see that Chipotle's broken promise is redeemed. We will show the world that the corporation has broken its founding promise: to serve food with integrity. And we will march into stores all over the country to deliver to the corporation's management a simple letter and message: Redeem your broken promise. It's not food. It's violence."

According to Direct Action Everywhere, standard practices at Chipotle's “natural” farms involve brutal exploitation: chickens are painfully debeaked with a searing blade; baby calves are torn from their crying mothers and killed; and pigs have as little as five square feet of space to live, with a 300 pound individuals stuffed into a space shorter than the length of a human arm. Direct Action Everywhere believes the company is engaged in consumer fraud about this exploitation, calling it “humane washing” – marketing that disguises the violent reality of animal agriculture. Chipotle has produced ads that are filled with pictures of happy cows in grassy fields, as well as videos showing employees freeing pigs from factory farms into sunlit forests.

View Photos | An Open Letter to Chipotle | Chipotle's Seven Deadly Sins | Direct Action Everywhere