Patriotic Goose Highlights Foie Gras Cruelty to Royal Well-Wishers

PETA’s “goose” led a patriotic protest outside Fortnum & Mason yesterday as the Queen, the Duchess of Cornwall, and the Duchess of Cambridge visited the store to open a new restaurant. As crowds lined the streets, PETA activists were out in force with Union Jack flags and banners held high, reading, “F&M: Foie Gras Is Un-British”, to highlight the fact that a store which trades on its British heritage should not be selling a product too cruel to produce here. The banners were clearly visible to Fortnum & Mason’s store executives as the Royals arrived, and the protest was covered in news reports about the event.

Our brilliant activists also took the opportunity to hand out hundreds of leaflets explaining how foie gras is made and about the barbaric industry that Fortnum & Mason supports. In foie gras production, young ducks and geese are crammed into tiny cages or pens barely larger than their own bodies. Up to 2 kilograms of grain and fat are pumped through pipes into the birds’ stomachs each day. Investigations on foie gras farms have documented sick, dead and dying birds – some with holes in their necks from pipe injuries. Fortnum & Mason knows all of this, and yet they continue to profit at the expense of tortured birds.

Every moment that Fortnum & Mason delays on implementing a ban on foie gras sales, birds are suffering and dying for their enlarged, diseased livers. Find out how you can help, and urge the store to drop this torture in a tin.