PETA Takes Aim at Restaurant Illegally Selling Foie Gras

Hot’s
Kitchen in Hermosa Beach, California, must have thought it was being sly. The
restaurant was selling a hamburger topped with foie gras when California’s ban on the sale of the
diseased duck liver went into
effect on July 1. After the ban was in place, the restaurant continued to serve
the foie gras burger but simply
changed the menu to read that people who purchased the burger would receive a free
side of foie gras. But PETA wasn’t about to let Hot’s skirt the law.

We
contacted the Hermosa Beach Police Department, but despite the clear violation,
the authorities refused to issue a citation. So we’ve taken the matter to
court, filing suit against Hot’s for engaging in unlawful business practices.

And
selling foie gras isn’t just unlawful—it’s despicable. Every PETA undercover investigation of
a foie gras farm has revealed that ducks
often choke to death when workers ram hard metal tubes down their throats to force-feed them and that ducks’ organs
often rupture from the excessive amount of grain that is pumped into their
stomachs. One duck had a gaping hole in his neck that was so severe that water
spilled from it when he drank. And two ducks whose organs had
swelled so large that they could not move were being eaten alive by rats.

Foie
gras production is so cruel that 15 countries have banned it, including the U.K.,
Germany, and Australia, and more U.S. states will likely follow California’s
lead. PETA intends to make sure that greedy restaurant owners won’t get away
with underhandedly hawking this “delicacy of despair.”