Duck
Week for September has been rescheduled due to the recent
tragedies. Please join us for Duck Week which is now set for October
8 - 14
Mark your calendars now and plan on joining an event that is planned
or enlist your city!
In October, Viva! will once again
coordinate events against grocery stores such as Whole Foods,
Wal-Mart SuperCenters and Kroger asking them to
quit selling duck meat. For the week of October 8 - 14we
are asking
everyone to make a splash for the ducks! We have *new leaflets
specific to
Whole Foods* selling of Grimaud Farms!
In less than a year Viva! has been
successful in getting Whole Foods and
Trader Joe's to no longer buy duck meat from Maple Leaf Farms
(killer of 14
million Pekin ducks a year) and Earth Fare and Trader Joe's to
dump duck
meat from Grimaud Farms (who cuts the tips of the bills off Muscovy
ducks).
We need to stop this industry in
its tracks!
Viva! investigated both Grimaud and
Maple Leaf Farms and found that the
ducks are forced to live in crowded conditions, indoors, without
enough
water to immerse their heads. Most farms offer ducks water only
in the form
of nipple drinkers (a pipe with holes where water drops out).
Without an
adequate amount of water, these aquatic birds find it difficult
to keep warm
and may also develop eye problems
that can result in blindness. De-billing
is done to prevent feather pulling – a behavior caused by
the stressful
environment. In the US, thousands of ducks are boiled alive in
the
slaughterhouse!
Cities that are planning on participating
include: Atlanta, Austin,
Chicago,Dallas, Edgewater, NJ, Houston, Long Island, Philadelphia,
Raleigh,
NC and San Francisco. Details on
who to contact can be seen here (we will continue to add groups
as they sign on).
If your city is not listed, but you
would like to help out contact us at
info@vivausa.org and order
our Ducks Out of Water packet which includes a
petition, order form for literature, sample letter to the store
and
newspaper as well as a sample news release.
The event doesn't have to be a big
event - just two people can reach a lot
of customers in an hour. It is not a boycott - we want the customers
to
express their dissatisfaction with the store managers.
Even if your Whole Foods is not currently
selling Grimaud Farms, they could
start at any time. As of right now, there is not a corporate policy
to not
sell from them.
Thanks and we hope you will join us!
For the animals,
lauren Ornelas
US Campaigns Director
Viva!
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