Topless PETA Beauties Ask Selfridges To ‘Have A Heart’ For Geese

For Immediate Release:
11 February 2009

Contact:
Anna Sargent 020 7357 9229, ext 228

London – As Selfridges continues to sell cruelly produced foie gras, PETA is planning a lively demonstration in front of the company’s flagship store this Thursday.

Nearly naked and carrying heart-shaped signs that say, “Have a Heart – Drop Foie Gras”, PETA members will hand out delicious vegan chocolates and roses to passers-by. The group is calling on the company to follow the example of Waitrose, House of Fraser, Sainsbury’s and most other British grocery chains, which have pulled foie gras from their shelves in the UK:

Date: Thursday, 12 February
Time: 12 noon sharp
Place: Selfridges, 400 Oxford St, London

To create foie gras – French for “fatty liver” – up to 4 pounds of a mixture of grain, maize and fat is pumped into the stomachs of ducks and geese through a pipe two or three times a day. In human terms, that is roughly the equivalent of 45 pounds of pasta each day. As the birds’ livers become diseased and expand to up to 10 times their normal size, the animals become sick and many are unable to move. The pipes sometimes puncture the birds’ throats, sometimes causing them to bleed to death. Death rates during force-feeding are as much as 1,000 to 2,000 per cent greater than normal.

Polls show that nearly two-thirds of Britons believe that foie gras sales should be banned. Sir John Gielgud was the original voice behind PETA Europe’s campaign against foie gras, which is now being led by Sir Roger Moore, who has narrated PETA’s graphic video showing the cruelty of foie gras production.

“PETA supporters are quite willing to go ‘starkers’ to expose the naked cruelty behind this ‘torture in a tin'”, says PETA Europe Director Robbie LeBlanc. “Valentine’s Day is the perfect time for Selfridges to show geese a little love by ending foie gras sales.”

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.