Current Press Releases

Orlando Activists Ask Wolfgang Puck to Stop Torturing Ducks and Calves

Orlando, FL - January 31, 2005 - As part of a nationwide campaign against Wolfgang Puck's ongoing promotion of cruel foie gras and veal, activists will gather outside his book-signing event on Monday, January 31 to ask him to stop endorsing animal cruelty. The protest will be at the intersection of Rt. 535 and Hotel Plaza Blvd. near the Wolfgang Puck Café, Downtown Disney West Side, from 5:00-7:00 pm when he will be signing copies of his newest book.

Activists will hand out educational literature of the suffering on veal farms and foie gras farms and hold signs declaring, "Wolfgang Puck Tortures Ducks." The Orlando protest comes on the heels of Puck's book-signing events in Maui and San Francisco, where protestors successfully convinced the Four Seasons in Maui to remove foie gras from an upcoming event menu.

As a high-profile chef, Wolfgang Puck has had a hand in promoting both foie gras and veal on menus in U.S. restaurants. Veal and foie gras are produced using what are widely acknowledged to be among the cruelest factory farming practices. Foie gras ducks are immobilized in tiny cages while they are force fed up to the brink of death. Veal calves are similarly tortured, chained by their necks inside tiny wooden crates and fed an iron-deficient diet that keeps them weak and anemic.

Although humane advocates have approached Puck numerous times to try to convince him to stop his aggressive promotion of veal and foie gras, he has turned a deaf ear to activists' pleas and continues to peddle both foie gras and white, crated veal on the menus of his restaurants.

Many counties prohibit these inhumane practices, and recently, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation that will prohibit the force feeding of ducks and geese to produce foie gras by 2012. Similar legislation is being pursued in Massachusetts and New York.

In addition, hundreds of restaurants and establishments around the country have pledged not to serve foie gras or crated veal. For more information about legislative efforts to ban foie gras and for a list of establishments that have signed pledges to not serve foie gras or veal, 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.