The commercial exploitation of emus is a tragedy. Wildlife should never be treated as a commodity to be bought, sold, used up, and thrown away.

On April 1, 1997 The Washington Post reported that ground emu meat and fillets are on sale at Sutton Place Gourmet. In response to protests from United Poultry Concerns members, Giant Foods has discontinued the sale of emu meat.

PLEASE CONTACT SUTTON PLACE GOURMET AND LET THEM KNOW HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS:
Mr. Tom Johnston, CEO
Sutton Place Gourmet
6903 Rockledge Drive
Bethesda, MD 20817
(301) 564-0483 (fax)

Emus are living creatures who are capable of feeling pain and pleasure. It is indefensible to introduce another class of birds into a system that does not extend basic welfare protection to birds.

Emus are defeathered while fully conscious in order to save the feathers for sale. According to USDA guidelines they are immobilized for dry hand picking and clipping with wing tips and tails removed as the final step in the picking process. British veterinarians who have viewed the process have described it as "terrible". Emus are being denuded and tortured to death.

Emus belong to the oldest living family of birds on earth, the ratites, or flightless fowl. They are nomads, designed by 90 million years of evolution to roam over vast tracts of land. With their long powerful legs and camel-like feet adapted for speed, they can run up to 40 miles an hour, covering 9 feet in a single stride.

A press report on an emu farm in Queenstown, MD describes the emus as being confined in a 100 foot long "running pen". An emu can move just 11 strides in a 100 foot pen. And, of course, the article does not mention how many birds are crammed into this pen.

Emus are gentle, friendly birds with a strong family life in which the father plays an active role in nest-building and in the incubation and rearing of chicks. Emus grow to be 5 to 6 feet tall, weigh up to 140 pounds, and live for 25 to 30 years.

Your contribution to United Poultry Concerns will help us to continue to fight the commercial exploitation of emus, ostriches, rheas, chickens, and turkeys.