TV Celebrity campaigns for 'tortured' ducks and geese
April 2008
Presenter of popular TV shows such as Pet Rescue, and patron of leading animal group Viva!, Wendy Turner-Webster is campaigning to make her home county a kinder place to live by making Staffordshire foie-gras free.
She will hand in a personally signed letter and evidence of the cruelty involved in its production to the head of the county council, John Taylor, urging the authority to pass a motion to become the first in Britain to become officially foie-gras free. She will be joined by her husband and cosignee – TV actor Gary Webster – and a giant duck from Viva!, who will be holding a placard declaring "Foie-gras free Staffordshire now!". Viva! are running a national campaign to highlight the animal suffering caused by what has been dubbed 'torture in a tin'. York and Bolton city councils made headlines by banning foie-gras last year. [...]'
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Duchess steps up bid to end foie gras sales
April 2008
The couple, who live in their 14th century home at Lennoxlove, East Lothian, wrote to the company urging it to stop selling the luxury, made from the fattened livers of ducks and geese.
"May I please hear from you that you will remove all foie gras from your shelves?"
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Another success in foie gras campaign (Sheffield)
April 2008
Foie Gras campaigners have targetted Leeds
Craft Guild of Chefs
Campaigners from Foie Gras Free North (FGFN) targeted restaurants in Leeds last weekend in a bid to turn the city “foie gras free”.
The move follows a series of protests against restaurants serving the controversial delicacy in recent weeks.
Michelin-starred Midsummer House in Cambridge was forced to remove foie gras from its menu after being vandalised by the Animal Liberation Front.
Other restaurants targeted this weekend included Anthony's at Flannels and Chino Latino.
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Vegetarian Aristocrats campaign against cruelty of Foie Gras
April 2008
A campaigning vegetarian duke and duchess are leading an aristocratic revolt against the department store Selfridges from within the walls of a 14th-century ancestral home in Scotland.
The Duke and Duchess of Hamilton, who maintain their position as the head of the peerage in Scotland from their 460-acre estate, Lennoxlove, near Edinburgh, have announced they will boycott the chain in protest at its continued sale of foie gras.
The duchess set out the family's position in a letter to Selfridges' chief executive Paul Kelly in which she described the force-feeding of duck and geese to make the liver pâté as a "grotesque abuse of animals". "As you must surely realise by now, long inflexible pipes are jammed down the throats of ducks and geese as many as three times a day, and several pounds of feed are forced into the animals' stomachs," she protested. "This cruel process causes the birds' livers to become diseased... Some birds have their necks torn open by the pipes, and sometimes the animals' internal organs rupture."
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Foie Gras controversy continues
March 2008
Resturants in Leeds have become the latest target of the animal rights campaigners who want to make restaurant menus foie gras free.
Foie Gras Free North (FGFN) campaigners have said they will target restaurants in leeds this weekend, including Anthony's at Flannels and Chino Latino, to convince them to stop serving foie gras to diners.
FGFN's Rupert Stevens justified these actions by saying "We have attempted to contact these establishments to initiate a discussion but are yet to hear from any of them. Foie gras production is a horrific abuse of animals, and unfortunately there a few people that take pleasure in this suffering."
The City of York Council was to consider a motion calling for the sale of the French delicacy to be banned on ethical grounds, but instead asked council officials to investigate the issue and compile a report.' - COMMENT, York City Council later voted new policy to "do everything in their power to discourage the sale of foie gras".
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Case for banning 'delicacy' - Yorkshire Evening Post
March 2008
As some people may know, the violent truth of the industry is that at birth geese and ducks are sexed, and the female birds which don't grow so quickly are discarded immediately, either they are gassed or minced alive.
The males then go on to spend around 12 weeks, often outside, growing to a certain size before being taken to the gavage sheds where they will spend the rest of their days before slaughter. In these sheds they will be caged with no room to spread their wings, and no water to swim in. Whilst in this environment they will be force fed an unnatural diet by having a tube forced down their throats four times a day, and a mixture of corn and fat pumped into their stomachs. During this process their throats can be lacerated, the birds can then choke to death on their own blood, and it is possible for their stomachs to burst due to the food forced into their stomachs. All this so their livers can reach up to ten times their normal size.
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Foie Gras driven off Leeds menus
March 2008
Foie gras – the liver of a fattened duck or goose – is being driven from Leeds menus.
Animal rights group Foie Gras Free North (FGFN) is targeting restaurants in West Yorkshire which offer what campaigners call "the delicacy of despair".
Malmaison, The Marriott, No.3 York Place, Sam's Chop House and Salts Deli in Leeds have all gone foie gras-free in recent weeks.
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Janet takes TV Chef to task over pate
Feb 2008
AN ANIMAL rights campaigner wants councils across Coventry and Warwickshire to ban the sale of foie gras - a liver pâté produced by force-feeding ducks and geese.
Janet Cummings, who has been campaigning against the mistreatment of animals for 18 years, says she felt sick when she saw a popular TV show promoting the French delicacy last week. [...]'
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Foie Gras is off menu (Chester news)
Feb 2008
ANIMAL rights activists have persuaded a top city restaurant to take foie-gras off their menu.
Chez Jules, in Northgate Street, featured the delicacy as a one-off on their Christmas menu but have vowed not to serve it again.
Members of Chester Action to Prevent Animal Suffering (CAPAS) handed out leaflets and gathered signatures outside The Chester Grosvenor in Eastgate Street but its Arkle restaurant has told the group that foie-gras will stay on their menu for the time being.
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Prince Charles says 'Non' to cruel pate
Feb 2008
Foie gras off the menu at Highgrove.
IN a move set to upset the entente cordiale, Prince Charles has declared his home a foie-gras free zone.
In a letter to animal campaigning group Viva!, Prince Charles’ estate has confirmed that His Royal Highness does not approve of the controversial French pâté. He has instructed his chefs not to purchase the product so cruel, say campaigners, that it has been dubbed ‘torture in a tin’.
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Feb 2008
ANTI-CRUELTY campaigners have joined forces to try to get controversial delicacy foie gras banned in the north.
It is already illegal in Britain to produce the French dish, made from the livers of ducks and geese that have been force-fed huge quantitites of grain and fat.
The process causes the birds' livers to swell to 10 times their natural size.
But protesters now want to wipe foie gras from store shelves and the menus of hotels and restaurants.
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BOTULISM in duck Foie Gras !
January 2008
FRANCE - French authorities are investigating a case of botulism contamination in a batch of Foie Gras.
The French agriculture ministry said that Clostridium botulinum, the pathogen responsible for botulism, had been found by the national laboratory in a batch of duck foie gras under the Monfort label.
The product has been recalled from the market and a warning has been issued by the manufacturers.
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"Cruel" dish off menu
December 2007
IT may be a delicacy to some, but foie gras is off the menu in Stockport - in a move that might have pleased James Bond.
The pate is made from the livers of ducks and geese force fed huge quantities of grain and fat through tubes placed down their throats. Stockport council has branded the practice as 'intolerably cruel and painful'. And now it has banned the sale of foie gras from all its premises.
Actor Sir Roger Moore, a former James Bond, used to enjoy foie gras. But when he learned about how it is produced he vowed never to eat it again and volunteered to narrate a documentary about what happens to the ducks and geese.
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Harvey Nichols to ban foie gras before protests
Friday, 3 August 2007
Harvey Nichols, the department store chain that is a favourite with well-heeled foodies and fashionistas, is halting the sale of foie gras in advance of a planned national protest from an animal rights group.
The chain said that for "commercial" reasons it would no longer stock French foie gras after existing supplies ran out in coming weeks.
Animal rights groups welcomed the move, which brings the company in line with others who avoid stocking foie gras, because of the way it is produced.
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Makro becomes latest retailer to halt sale of 'unethical' foie gras
Tuesday, 17 July 2007
The cash and carry chain Makro has become the latest retailer to call a halt to sales of foie gras after protests from animals rights campaigners.
The decision, leaked to The Independent, is another victory for animal rights activists in a long-running campaign to banish French foie gras from shops and restaurants.
Last month, House of Fraser department stores joined Sainsbury, Tesco and Marks & Spencer in banning foie gras. A Scottish aristocrat, the Duke of Hamilton, had been boycotting Jenners department store in Edinburgh in protest at its sale of the product, one of the most contentious foodstuffs for animal welfare.
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Activists’ demo at restaurant
Published on 28/06/2007
ANIMAL rights activists have vowed to keep up their campaign against a Michelin star restaurant.
Lancaster and South Lakes Animal Rights campaigners want Cartmel’s L’Enclume to stop serving foie gras, which is made from the livers of fattened-up geese or ducks.
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House of Fraser to ban 'unethical' foie gras
June 07
Department store group House of Fraser announced yesterday it is to stop selling foie gras pate on ethical grounds.
It follows a long campaign by animal rights campaigners Advocates for Animals, headed up by the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton.
The Duchess congratulated the group today in a letter published on the Advocates for Animals website.
She said: "I am indeed delighted that House of Fraser has taken the ethical decision to end the sale of foie gras.
"There can surely be no excuse for inflicting such terrible suffering on these animals in order to produce a luxury food such as this”
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Minister calls on diners to boycott foie gras
Feb 07
Government minister Ben Bradshaw today risked sparking a cross-Channel row by calling for a boycott of foie gras.
The environment and animal welfare minister is coming under pressure from animal welfare groups and some MPs to ban the import and sale of the delicacy in Britain.
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