We are informed that the foie gras and duck meat auction, originally part of a July 30 fundraiser, has been removed from the Pets Lifeline event in Sonoma Valley, California.
However, the plan is still on to serve dead animals and other animal products at their event. Please continue to ask them to modify their menu for this and
all future events.
Unfortunately, Pets Lifeline is deleting comments and posts to their event page, even though none have been rude or caustic. For this reason, we encourage
you to focus your efforts on emailing Executive Director Nancy King: nancyking@petslifeline.org.
United Poultry Concerns, Inc.
P.O. Box 150, Machipongo, Virginia 23405-0150
Phone: 757-678-7875 • Fax: 757-678-5070
www.upc-online.org
• info@upc-online.org
July 26, 2016
An Open Letter to Nancy King, Director of Pets Lifeline,
It has come to our attention that your fundraising event Paws for a Cause will be auctioning a foie gras and duck dinner. While we appreciate the work
you do to relieve the suffering of some animals, we encourage you to consider all animals in your circle of compassion. Ducks on foie gras and duck
meat farms endure horrific misery.
Just recently an
undercover investigation found unimaginable cruelty
on Reichardt Duck Farm in Sonoma County, California. Ducks need to swim and bathe regularly in water for the health of their skin, feathers, and eyes.
Deprived of water to rinse their eyes in, ducks develop an eye disease called ophthalmia, or “sticky eye,” in which a yellowish discharge
mats down the feathers around their eyes causing their eyelids to stick shut. Sticky eye is miserable to endure and was rampant on this farm.
Farm-raised ducks are debilled with burning metal, deprived of fresh water and sunlight, and overcrowded in dismal, dark buildings. It is supremely sad
to know that the only splashing and abundant water these ducks will ever experience in their lives is the electrified water in the slaughterhouse
through which they are dragged, face down, to paralyze their bodies for easy feather release after they are dead. This is how we treat our feathered
friends. Please watch the video of the investigation and see for yourself.
Foie gras production is considered so egregiously cruel it is banned in at least 14 countries. Investigations repeatedly uncover filthy, crowded,
miserable conditions and document an industry standard of total disregard for the suffering inherent in foie gras production. The immensely traumatic
force-feeding process, in which a long metal pipe is shoved down a duck’s esophagus and huge amounts of feed are forced down ducks’ throats
to engorge their livers to a state of disease, has been condemned as callous cruelty by veterinarians and all animal welfare experts.
We implore you, please, to consider all animals worthy of your protection. Ducks and other birds are just as intelligent and emotionally complex as
dogs, cats, and horses. They suffer the same as all animals, and they suffer terribly in the farming industry. Please choose an animal-free, vegan menu
for your fundraisers, so that the work you do for some animals is not negated by the suffering caused to others.
With compassion,
Hope Bohanec
Projects Manager, United Poultry Concerns
Email: Hope@UPC-online.org
