PETA ‘Ducks’ Quack Up A Storm In Selfridges Protest

For Immediate Release:
3 October 2009

Contact:
Sam Glover 020 7357 9229, ext 229; [email protected]

London – Dressed as ducks, dozens of members of People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals (PETA) sung and danced to the tune of “The Birdie Song” today outside
Selfridges on Oxford Street in a flash mob-style action to protest against
the store’s sales of cruelly produced foie gras. The lively and unusual demonstration
was led by a giant “duck”, and other “ducks” held signs that read, “Selfridges:
Give a Duck! Drop Cruel Foie Gras”.

To create foie gras – French for “fatty liver” – up to 2 kilograms of mash are pumped into the stomachs of ducks and geese through a pipe two or three times a day. As the birds’ livers expand to up to 10 times their normal size, the animals become too sick to move. The pipes sometimes puncture the birds’ throats, causing the animals to bleed to death.

Foie gras production is banned in more than a dozen countries, including the UK. Polls show that the majority of Britons believe that foie gras sales should also be banned. Foie gras has been pulled from the shelves of House of Fraser, removed from royal menus by Prince Charles and denounced as cruel by the pope. Sir Roger Moore narrates PETA’s graphic video showing the cruelty of foie gras production.

“Selfridges supports severe suffering by selling foie gras, but most Britons want foie gras sales banned”, says PETA’s Poorva Joshipura. “These days, it is considered unacceptable for a retailer to ignore animal welfare. It’s time that Selfridges joined other retailers in the UK by dropping foie gras.”