N19 Public House Removes Foie Gras After Complaint From Local PETA Supporter

For Immediate Release:

18 July 2013 

Contact:

Ben Williamson +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 229; [email protected]

Highgate – After learning from PETA how birds are force-fed several times a day through pipes which are rammed down their throats to make foie gras, one Highgate resident has persuaded her local pub to remove the vile product from its menu. Ana St Clair wrote to Duncan Watson-Steward, general manager of The Star on Chester Road, informing him of the cruelty behind every slither of foie gras, and the publican confirmed in an e-mail response that the product, about which he had previously had reservations, would no longer be offered to patrons.

“I’m delighted that The Star has removed foie gras, which is the result of the torture of ducks and geese, from its menus”, St Clair says. “As consumers, we have the power to change the world. We can vote with our wallets and make sure that our shopping habits reflect our principles. I hope that any remaining pubs and restaurants in the area still profiting from the abuse of birds will follow The Star’s compassionate example and go foie gras–free.”  

To produce foie gras, ducks and geese are force-fed several times a day for weeks until their livers become diseased and swell to up to 10 times their normal size. Investigations at foie gras farms have documented sick, dead and dying birds – some with holes in their necks from pipe injuries. Foie gras production is so inhumane that it is illegal in the UK and more than a dozen other countries. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the Brit Awards, Wimbledon, Lord’s Cricket Ground, both Houses of Parliament and the Royal Shakespeare Company have all pledged not to serve or sell foie gras, and Prince Charles does not allow it on Royal menus. Both Selfridges and Harvey Nichols refuse to sell or serve foie gras after learning from PETA about the cruelty that is involved in its production.

High-profile people who are backing PETA’s anti–foie gras campaign include Ralph Fiennes, Kate Winslet, Ricky Gervais, Zac Goldsmith MP, Dame Vera Lynn and Sir Roger Moore, who narrated PETA’s video exposé of foie gras production on farms which supply Piccadilly store Fortnum & Mason, one of the few shops in London still profiting from this “torture in a tin”.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.

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