URGENT
ACTION NEEDED!
Help Counter The Foie Gras Industry's Pressure On
The New York City Council!
The wealthy and powerful foie gras industry and restaurant association
are actively working to prevent a foie
gras sales ban in NYC, and the speaker of the New York City Council,
Christine Quinn, is shamefully pressuring City Council members to oppose
such humane legislation. It is critical that we counter the foie gras
industry's efforts and contact lawmakers in New York City!
What You Can Do: Three Simple Steps
1. Contact Speaker Quinn and politely let her know that as a New York City resident, you are appalled by efforts of the foie gras industry and their allies to influence City Council members against a humane law. Tell her you strongly support an end to the cruel force feeding of ducks and geese to make foie gras, and would like her to support efforts to ban foie gras in NYC.
The Honorable Christine Quinn
Speaker of the City Council
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
Phone: 212-788-5615 or 212-788-7210
Fax: 212-788-7207
Email: quinn@council.nyc.ny.us (not as effective)
Online comment form2. Send encouragement to Councilman Alan Gerson asking him to please support and introduce legislation in NYC to ban the sale of this cruel and unnecessary product.
The Honorable Alan Gerson
Council Member - 1st District
51 Chambers St. (Suite 429)
New York, NY 10007
District Office Phone: 212-788-7722
District Office Fax: 212-788-7727
Email: gerson@council.nyc.ny.us (not as effective)
Online comment form3. Call, email and write your City Council member and ask her or him to support a ban on foie gras in New York City. Click here to find out who your council member is and their contact information.
Be ready
soon, as we will be hosting a rally/press conference on the steps of New
York City Hall and will need your help to attend and organize. To get
involved and for more information on the NYC Campaign, please contact
Farm Sanctuary's Say No To Foie Gras NYC Campaign Organizer Wendy
Berner at NYC@NoFoieGras.org or
646-369-6212.
Click
here for points to consider making when writing or talking about foie
gras (pronounced 'fwah grah').
Click
here for a Question & Answer document about the importance of
fighting the foie gras industry.
A
growing number of restaurants in the United States have pledged not
to serve foie gras. Increasingly, restaurant patrons are concerned about
how their food is produced and oppose the inhumane treatment of animals.
They feel good about patronizing conscientious establishments.
Animal experts, such as avian veterinarians and wildlife pathologists, have condemned foie gras as an egregiously cruel practice.
Foie gras facts: French for "fatty liver," foie gras is produced by force-feeding confined ducks or geese massive quantities of nutritionally incomplete gruel with a mechanized pump several times a day for up to a month. At the end of this fattening period, the birds' livers are swollen up to 10 times their natural size, resulting in the diseased liver condition "hepatic lipidosis." Some birds die before slaughter as a consequence of ruptured internal organs or asphyxiation when food becomes impacted in their throats and digestive systems. Many are so physically debilitated by the end of the force-feeding period that they are unable to stand or walk. Veterinarians and pathologists have determined that the force-feeding process is inhumane. Additionally, no other food animal production method involves deliberately causing disease to the point of fatality.
Foie gras laws: Foie gras production is so cruel that it has been outlawed by more than a dozen countries. In September 2004, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB 1520 into law prohibiting the production and sale of foie gras. In April 2006, the Chicago City Council voted 49 to 1 to prevent the sale of this cruel product within city limits.
