Sir Roger Moore Slams Selfridges In Fresh Volley Over Foie Gras

For Immediate Release:
15 October 2009

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

London – Legendary actor Sir Roger Moore has fired off a letter to Selfridges Chief Executive Paul Kelly stating that he isn’t buying one word of Selfridges’ excuse for continuing to flog foie gras, a “fancy food” made from the grossly enlarged livers of ducks and geese who are force-fed via a pipe that’s rammed down their throats. Moore, who narrates PETA’s graphic video about foie gras production and is spearheading PETA’s campaign to get it removed from all shelves and menus, has twice written to Selfridges’ owner, Galen Weston – even offering to buy up all existing stocks of Selfridges’ foie gras if the company will end foie gras sales – but he never received a response until his compelling letter appeared in the 22 September edition of the Daily Mail. That letter prompted Selfridges Chief Executive Paul Kelly to attempt a justification of foie gras sales.

“There is absolutely no debate about whether foie gras is cruel”, writes Moore, who also points out that foie gras production is condemned by the Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare, the RSPCA and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation. “Respected veterinary experts from around the world agree that foie gras production is extremely inhumane. I mean no disrespect, but it is preposterous for a department store executive to hold out his own uninformed opinions in defiance of these findings.”

To create foie gras – French for “fatty liver” – up to 2 kilograms of mash are forcibly pumped into the stomachs of ducks and geese through a pipe that’s rammed down their gullets 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 prohibited 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 at his residences and denounced as cruel by the pope.

Sir Roger Moore’s correspondence with Selfridges is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.