PEACE ADVOCATES FED UP * ASK LARKSPUR RESTAURANT TO SPARE FORCE FED BIRDS

[Guest guest]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: June 2, 2005

CONTACT: Kate Danaher (415) 459-1149

 

PEACE ADVOCATES FED UP

ASK LARKSPUR RESTAURANT TO SPARE FORCE FED BIRDS

 

When: Thursday, June 9, 2005, 6:00 PM

Where: The Lark Creek Inn Restaurant

234 Magnolia Avenue

Larkspur, CA 94939-2099

Tel: 415-924-7766

Fax: 415-924-7117

 

What do the James Beard Foundation’s “Best Chef California,” over 15 countries in Europe and the new Pope have in common? They are all opposed to foie gras, a pate made from the grossly enlarged livers of cruelly force-fed ducks and geese.

 

Even Newsweek Magazine (May 2, p.58) has put the controversial industry under fire. Production of foie gras will end in California in 2012, “But we don’t think that is soon enough,” said Kate Danaher, a member of the Animal Rights Committee of the Marin Peace and Justice Coalition. “Think of all the suffering birds having metal pipes jammed down their throats for seven more years.”

 

To expedite the process the MPJC Animal Rights Committee is asking Marin restaurants and stores selling foie gras to desist immediately. Since the Lark Creek Inn Restaurant of Larkspur has not responded to their numerous requests to meet and discuss the issue local peace activists will protest at the restaurant on Thursday, June 9, 2005, between 6:00 and 8:00 PM.

 

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FOIE GRAS FACTS

… AB 1520 was signed into law in CA which ends the production & sale of force fed fois gras in CA in 2012, seven years.

… Fois gras production is one of the cruelest forms of animal agriculture.

… There are only two foie gras producers in the US, one in New York State and the other in California.

… Brutality has been documented at both farms: rats eating birds alive, ducklings tossed in the trash after having their necks broken, waste encrusted sheds.

… In France, foie gras’ country of origin, the same cruelty and disregard for life pervades.

… Tens of thousands of birds are crammed in sheds or in tiny cages where they can’t spread their wings.

… Three to four pounds of corn mash a day is crammed down the throats of the ducks and geese with a pipe.

… The farmhand roughly grabs the bird by the neck and rams a pipe down her throat.

… A machine pumps the corn into their stomachs.

… Picture thirty one-pound boxes of dry pasta and then add water - this is the equivalent for a 150 pound human.

… Many birds die from throat punctures or choking on vomit.

… After three weeks of speed feeding, their livers have swelled 7 to 10 times their normal size. They cannot stand or walk.

… The livers are actually diseased. It is called hepatic lipidosis.

… Foie gras production has been outlawed in fifteen countries including Germany, Great Britain, and Israel.

… After learning about how much the birds suffer, dozens of well-known restaurants across the country have chosen to drop foie gras from their menus.

… It is cruel. It is torture. Compassion for animals and compassion for humans go hand in hand.

… Legislation introduced in Illinois, Massachusetts, New York and Oregon to ban foie gras cruelty.

… See www.stopforcefeeding.com and www.nofoiegras.com