PETA Protest Winchester Wine Bar Selling Foie Gras
A PETA supporter sat at a dining table outside Winchester’s Margaux Lounge next to a sign declaring, “Foie Gras: Torture in a Tin. Ban It!” while being “force-fed” their dinner through a tube.
The action mirrors how foie gras producers pump grain into the stomachs of terrified geese and ducks to enlarge their livers, a process so inhumane and painful that it is illegal in the UK.
PETA’s protest aims to push Margaux Lounge to remove cruelly produced foie gras from the menu and encourage the government to follow through on its pre-election commitment to ban foie gras sales and imports to the UK.
🚨 LIVE in Winchester: A PETA ‘duck’ is being force-fed outside Margaux Lounge to expose the horrific cruelty behind foie gras.
This torture in a tin is made by shoving tubes down ducks’ and geese’s throats and force-feeding them until their livers swell up to 10 times their… pic.twitter.com/Wj1jOUTWZT
— PETA UK (@PETAUK) March 5, 2025
Foie Gras, a Vile Product
To produce foie gras, ducks and geese are force-fed several times a day until their livers become diseased and swell to around 10 times their natural size. Imagine being forced to eat 20 kilograms of pasta each day. That’s the human equivalent of the nearly 2 kilograms of food that’s typically forced down these birds’ throats every single day.
PETA exposés have revealed that the long metal feeding pipes leave some birds so badly injured that they have holes in their necks, broken beaks, and oesophagitis. By the end of their short lives, many birds cannot walk normally, suffer from bone disease, or even struggle to breathe because their enlarged livers compress their lungs.
Foie Gras Imports and Sales Ban
The action also follows news that the government may renege on its pre-election commitment to ban “the commercial import of foie gras, where ducks and geese are aggressively force-fed.” Ministers have recently declined to reinstate this pledge before negotiations with the EU regarding a veterinary agreement that could scupper the ban.
Majority of Brits Support a Ban
Foie gras is widely shunned by British citizens; three-quarters of the UK public support a ban on imports.
King Charles banned foie gras from all royal residences. Notably, chefs like Alexis Gauthier of Gauthier Soho have created luxurious faux gras recipes using 100 percent vegan ingredients, including mushrooms and walnuts.
In addition, many top businesses – including Fortnum & Mason – have made the compassionate and business-savvy decision to ban foie gras.
What You Can Do
Dishing up the diseased livers of force-fed birds is appalling and unjustifiable. Please read PETA’s guide on what to do if you see foie gras on the menu:
Please also join PETA in urging the UK government to fulfil its manifesto commitments and end imports and sales:
