Current Press Releases

San Francisco Activists Ask Wolfgang Puck To "Stop Selling Tortured Ducks"

San Francisco, CA - March 03, 2005 - This Saturday (March 5), compassionate activists in San Francisco will gather on behalf of Farm Sanctuary outside of Wolfgang Puck's Postrio restaurant (located at 545 Post St.) to ask Puck to stop selling two products of egregious animal cruelty: foie gras and white veal.

The San Francisco protest, beginning at 5:30 p.m., marks the first of many weekly protests to be held outside of Postrio and is part of a nationwide, ongoing campaign to convince Puck to remove veal and foie gras from his menus. It will also coincide with protests being held every weekend outside of Puck's Spago restaurant in Beverly Hills.

Foie gras and veal production are notorious for the suffering they inflict on animals. On foie gras farms, ducks are confined in tiny, box-like individual cages that virtually immobilize them for weeks. During this time, they are force fed huge amounts of food several times a day in order to enlarge their livers up to ten times their normal size. The resultant, fatty mass is sold as "foie gras" in restaurants like Postrio.

Veal calves raised for "white veal" suffer similar confinement and cruel feeding practices. Taken from their mothers at birth, these calves are chained by the neck inside tiny crates that allow them no freedom of movement. Turning around and lying down comfortably are impossible. Their diet consists of an all-liquid, iron-deficient formula that leaves many anemic, weak, and pale.

Wolfgang Puck, perhaps more than any other restaurateur in the U.S., is responsible for perpetuating these cruel practices because of his insistence on featuring them prominently on the menus of his dining establishments. As an extremely high-profile, 'celebrity' chef, Puck plays a large part in keeping the cruel foie gras and veal industries alive.

Although Farm Sanctuary activists have tried to engage Puck in a dialogue repeatedly about his promotion of foie gras and veal, he has turned a deaf ear to their concerns. "We hope that Mr. Puck will become more open to a dialogue about compassionate choices as more cities join in the weekly protests against his use of cruel foie gras and veal," said Gene Baur (formerly Bauston), Farm Sanctuary's co-founder and president.

In August 2004, the California legislature outlawed the production and sale of foie gras in the state, effective in 2012. Several other states are currently considering similar bills to ban foie gras this year, and bills have been introduced in three states this year to ban the use of veal crates. For more information on these bills see www.farmsanctuary.org, and for information on the campaign against Wolfgang Puck, see www.WolfgangPuckCruelty.org.

About Farm Sanctuary
Farm Sanctuary is the nation's leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the "food animal" industry through research and investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts. Farm Sanctuary shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Orland, Calif., provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals, who have become ambassadors for farm animals everywhere by educating visitors about the realities of factory farming. Additional information can be found at www.farmsanctuary.org or by calling 607-583-2225.