October 11, 2001
Sir Paul McCartney Speaks out
for Ducks During National Duck Week
Events taking place around the country from October 8 - 14
DAVIS, CA – Viva!USA received letters today from Sir Paul McCartney to
grocery store chains in the U.S. regarding their sale of duck meat. While
McCartney congratulated Trader Joe’s for no longer purchasing duck meat
from inhumane suppliers and encouraged them to stay on this path, he criticized
Whole Foods for not taking similar steps.
In a separate statement, Viva!USA
supporter Sir Paul McCartney, says, "It is a terrible shame that
people in a so-called civilized society are involved in the horrific practice
of farming ducks. These are water birds -yet in factory farms they can't
swim, dive or clean in water. Support Viva!'s Week for Ducks and help
end the suffering."
Activists across the U.S. will educate
and leaflet during Duck Week to heighten awareness about the tragic lives
factory-farmed ducks endure. Whole Foods retailers (based in Texas) will
be a primary focus of Duck Week events. Although the grocery chain markets
itself as a purveyor of natural, cruelty free items, it continues to sell
ducks farmed by Grimaud Farms – a notoriously inhumane duck farm.
National Duck Week events will take
place in over 20 cities including Berkeley, San Francisco, Sacramento,
Santa Fe; Austin, Houston and San Antonio, TX; Washington, D.C.; Seattle;
St.Louis; Atlanta; Manhattan; Montgomery, AL; and Tampa. (http://www.vivausa.org/duck-sep01list.htm).
Points to consider:
- Ducks, like other animals raised
in food production, are excluded from the federal Animal Welfare Act.
Factory farmed ducks are packed by the thousands into dark, stinking
sheds.
- As aquatic birds, ducks have evolved
to live their lives in water. Denied enough to water to immerse themselves,
factory farmed ducks are unable to preen properly and have difficulty
maintaining adequate body temperature.
- Grimaud Farms cuts off a portion
of a ducks’ bill to prevent the ducks from pulling each others' feathers
– an unnatural behavior caused by the crowded, “factory farm” conditions.
The birds who survive have their throats cut before being immersed in
scalding water to be de-feathered. According to the USDA's Food Safety
Inspection Service, about 1 million ducks per year are fully conscious
when their throats are cut, and many thousand are still breathing when
they are plunged into boiling water.
After only a year, Viva!USA successfully negotiated with Whole Foods to
end the sale of duck meat from producer Maple Leaf Farms, convinced Trader
Joe's to suspend the purchase of duck meat while the company waits for
a third party to certify the farms as humane, and persuaded Earth Fare
natural food chain to stop selling duck meat from Grimaud Farms.
About us: Viva!, an international organization, has its national headquarters
in Davis, CA. Undercover video and photos taken in duck units on U.S.
factory farms, as well as Viva!USA’s report on the status of ducks held
in these farms, are available through Viva!USA’s website at www.vivausa.org,
or by contacting Viva! at 530/759-8482.
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