Animal Rights Protesters Call for Foie-Gras Free Christmas in Cambridge

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 10 December 2007

Date: 15th December 2007 (NEXT SATURDAY)
Time: 12 noon
Place: Midsummer House, Midsummer Common, Cambridge


As part of a national Day of Action organised by animal campaigning group Viva!, local protesters in Cambridge are holding a peaceful demonstration outside of Midsummer House restaurant, asking them to drop foie-gras from their menu. A supporter will be ‘force-fed’ to illustrate the cruelty inherent in the production of what has been dubbed ‘torture in a tin’. Protesters are calling on the people of Cambridge to boycott Midsummer House and foie-gras.

Campaigners will be holding posters and handing out leaflets displaying the slogan “So this is Christmas?” to local diners and passers-by. This comes after it emerged that Midsummer House was selling the product that is considered so inhumane that it is illegal to produce in this country and has to be imported.

Foie-gras is produced by force feeding ducks or geese large amounts of food so that their livers swell up to 10 times the normal size. A pipe is shoved down the bird’s oesophagus and food is forced into the stomach. This is repeated two or three times daily for two to three weeks until the birds develop fatty liver disease. Most birds are caged during force-feeding and around a million birds die during this process every year. Over 90 per cent of the 30 million birds used in foie-gras production each year in France are male ducks. The same number of female ducklings – which are not used in foie-gras production – are either gassed or thrown into electric grinders at only a few days old.

Foie-gras is not produced in Britain, as the government has made it clear that its production would contravene existing animal welfare regulations. However, it is legal to import it. Its production has also been outlawed in Poland, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Israel. Additionally, York, Bolton and Norwich councils have all passed motions against the product.

“Foie-gras is torture in a tin”, says 17-year-old local campaigner Aran Mathai “There is nothing ‘civilised’ about forcing a pipe down an animal’s throat and making him consume such absurd quantities of food that his liver expands painfully”.

“We are asking Midsummer House to pull its business into the 21st century and join all the major supermarkets and many restaurants across the country in refusing to sell this cruel product.” “We are also asking everyone to reject foie-gras and help make Cambridge a foie-gras free zone this Christmas.”

Notes for Editor

- For more information on the event contact Aran Mathai on 07988038401. For information on Viva’s campaign for a ‘Foie-gras free Britain’, and still images, call Justin Kerswell on 0117 944 1000 or visit www.viva.org.uk/foiegras

- The local campaign website against Midsummer House is  http://www.midsummerhouseshame.makessense.co.uk/index.html and Midsummer House’s menu can be found at their website here  http://www.midsummerhouse.co.uk/html/alacarte.htm