ACTION ALERTS
Protest Live Rooster Dismemberment Ritual
PoultryPress, Vol. 4, No.4 (Fall Winter 1994) urged everyone
to demand a stop to the satanic "rooster pull," a Spanish
"tradition" carried on as a tourist attraction by certain Native
American pueblos in New Mexico. At least four innocent roosters
were agonizingly dismembered in June 1994 by the Acoma Pueblo and
the Jemez Pueblo. UPC has written twice to The All Indian Pueblo
Counsel without receiving a reply. We urge readers of On the
Scene Magazine in Albuquerque to notify us immediately if a
"rooster pull" is announced under "Native American Events" at any
time during 1995. It's time to bury the "rooster pull" forever.
Protest to: James Hena, Chairman, The All Indian Pueblo Counsel,
3939 San Pedro Drive, NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110 (505-881-1992).
Protest to: Mary Tenorio, Acoma Tourist Visitor Center, P.O. Box
309, Acoma, NM 87034 (505-252-1139). Please send UPC copies of
your replies.
WildBird Breaks Advertising Contract
With United Poultry Concerns
After avidly pressing United Poultry Concerns to renew our
advertising contract for 1995, having enjoyed our business in
1994, WildBird magazine broke the renewed contract in December
1994. The advertising director informed United Poultry Concerns
that the magazine had received "four or five" complaints about
our advertisement, "The Call Of The Wild Is In His Heart, Too."
WildBird faxed one protest letter to UPC on December 16,
1994, with a request that UPC respond to its charges, summarized
in the letter as a "wild misrepresentation of facts." UPC
president, Karen Davis, wrote an immediate, fully-documented
reply substantiating every statement in the advertisement.*
Please tell WildBird how disappointed you are. You may wish
to tell them that as a result of their capitulation to the
poultry industry you are (whichever is appropriate) canceling
your subscription; will not renew your current subscription when
it expires; are not going to subscribe to WildBird as you had
intended; are going to tell everyone you know how badly Wildbird
behaved under pressure. Contact: Paul M. Konrad, Editor,
WildBird, P.O. Box 6050, Mission Viejo, CA 92690.
*For a copy of this 11-page letter send a $5 check or money order
to United Poultry Concerns, P. O. Box 59367, Potomac, MD 20859.
Coca-Cola Reconsiders Cockfighting Connection
PoultryPress Vol. 4, No. 3 (Summer/Fall 1994) reported that
The Coca-Cola Company sponsored the first World Congress of
Cocking in Queretaro, Mexico at Expo 1993. UPC and Friends of
Animals launched a boycott/protest-letter campaign. Thanks to
this effort Coca-Cola announced "a review of sponsorship policies
of The Coca-Cola Company for the Latin American countries." In a
letter to UPC dated November 30, 1994, Coca-Cola stated: "You
will be pleased to know that our group president for Latin
America has issued a policy stating that operations within Latin
America should no longer sponsor or promote events, including
cockfighting events, where there is a risk of physical harm to
animals."
Thank Coca-Cola by contacting: Melissa Packman, Consumer
Affairs Specialist, The Coca-Cola Company, P.O. Drawer 1734,
Atlanta, GA 30301, 1-800-438-2653
Protest To AmericanAirlines
AmericanAirlines sells "pate de foie gras" in their
International Duty Free catalog. Listed under "Gifts of
Pleasure," foie gras is described as a "noble product" and "magic
word that rings excellent and fine gastronomy perpetuated through
centuries." At the same time, AmericanAirlines writes, "We
absolutely agree that the inhumane handling of any animal species
is unacceptable."
Foie gras--"fat liver--epitomizes the inhumane handling of
an animal species. The "noble product" is a diseased excretory
organ obtained by forcing ducks and geese to consume gross
quantities of fatty food by cranking a metal tube or screw down
their throats and preventing them from vomiting. An eye-witness
investigator in France wrote: "Before cramming, the birds were so
frightened that they huddled together as far away from the farmer
as they could get--pushing themselves against the bars of the
cage in an attempt to escape."
Tell AmericanAirlines to remove foie gras from their Duty
Free catalog and replace it with an elegant vegetarian pate.
Remind them that strong business decisions, such as the banning
of smoking on commercial flights, speed public acceptance of
progressive social attitudes and customs.
Contact: Ms. M. F.
White, Executive Office, AmericanAirlines, P.O. Box 619612, MD
2400, Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, TX 75261-9612.
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The goose: "a generous benefactor of mankind"
"From time immemorial the goose has been a generous
benefactor of mankind, giving feathers to lie upon, quills with
which to feather arrows, pens to transfer man's thoughts to
paper, flesh to sustain man's body, fattened livers for the
epicurean, and fat to flavor the peasant's soup and for baking
purposes. . . .
"From early Roman times geese have been especially fattened
to produce greatly enlarged livers. During the first part of the
fattening period the feed is given in troughs, but for some days
before the geese are to be killed they are forcibly fed, a
funnel-like apparatus being used to force the nourishment down
the birds' throats. The forced fattening of geese is depicted on
mural reliefs in one of the tombs at Sakkara (Egypt).
"In France it used to be the custom to fatten geese in
casks, in which holes were bored to allow the fowls to put their
heads through for feeding and watering. The process used by the
Poles in early times was to place each goose in an inverted
earthenware pot large enough to accommodate the victim
comfortably. After being fattened for even two weeks many of the
geese could be removed only after the pots had been broken.
"The livers, which become enlarged to an almost incredible
size, are sold separately and command a good price. In Germany,
in particular, goose liver is served in a variety of ways. In
Strasbourg and in other places the livers are prepared for the
table in the form of pate de foie gras, a delicacy to tickle the
palate of the epicurean." Morley A. Jull, "Fowls of Forest and
Stream Tamed By Man," The National Geographic Magazine, Vol.
LVII, No. 3, March 1930.