Acclaimed Calif. Restaurant Targeted to "Can" Cruel Foie Gras
Acclaimed Calif. Restaurant Targeted to "Can" Cruel Foie Gras


Yountville, Calif. - As caring people await Governor Schwarzenegger's signature on a bill that would ban the sale and production of cruelly derived foie gras (fatty liver) in the state of California, Animal Protection and Rescue League (APRL) and In Defense of Animals (IDA) will take restaurants to task, urging them to drop the cruel "delicacy" from their menus. Holding posters that feature the body of a duck who died during the violent force-feeding process, activists will hold a demonstration at a destination restaurant in the Napa Valley that continues to sell the cruel product:

Where: French Laundry, 6640 Washington St., Yountville, Calif.
When: Saturday, September 25, 12 noon

Why have APRL and IDA launched a national campaign to ruffle the feathers of restaurants that sell foie gras? Investigations on the only two foie gras farms in the U.S. revealed ducks crammed into filthy, feces-ridden sheds and others isolated inside wire cages so small that the animals could barely move. Barrels full of dead ducks who had choked or whose organs ruptured or exploded during the traumatic force-feeding process were discovered. Investigators rescued 15 ducks, including two who were being eaten alive by rats because crippling injuries prevented them from moving. 

On foie gras farms, workers shove rigid pipes down the throats of ducks and geese twice per day, every day, pumping as much as 2 pounds of mash into their stomachs. The ducks who survive the feedings suffer from a painful illness that causes their livers to swell up to eight to ten times their normal size. When the birds are slaughtered, their livers are sold for foie gras.

"We will be bringing this information to restaurants all over California to ask them to stop selling this delicacy of despair," said Kath Rogers who rescued ducks from Sonoma Foie Gras. "We hope that French Laundry will make the compassionate decision to spare birds from cruel force feeding."

At least 15 nations including Israel and Germany have banned foie gras production because of its cruelty and many restaurants, including Deco restaurant in Ventura and Jardinière in San Francisco have recently stated that they will no longer serve foie gras after learning of the cruelty behind it. 

For more information, please visit www.StopForceFeeding.com. Broadcast quality footage of APRL's foie gras investigation is available upon request.