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| Lynx Issue 14: Valentine's Day Foie Gras Demo, Fur/Leather Protest Report |
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| Wednesday, 06 February 2008 00:00 |
In this week's edition:
Protest of Weiss Fur and Leather Coat Show Our protest of the Weiss Fur and Leather Coat Show on Friday night, February 1st, had a great turn out. Because we found out about the sale the day before it began, we were not sure what to expect. We want to thank all of you that took the time to show up on such incredibly short notice. It was snowy, wet, windy, and cold, yet many of you were still able to make it. Most of us had numb fingers by the end of the evening. It shows true dedication to the need to end the cruelty that results from the fur and leather industries. To those of you who were unable to attend on such short notice, we were able to hand out some information to passing patrons of the David Lawrence Convention Center and surrounding businesses. We and our signs stating "Real Fur is Never Worth the Price" were seen by many cars passing by on Penn Avenue and on 10th Street. Our attempts to migrate down to the front entrance of the Convention Center were foiled when security asked us to leave private property. However, we were able to reach a decent amount of the public from the rear entrance. Hopefully this has been one action closer to the end of animals being tortured and abused in the fashion industry. Thank you all again for your help! Make a Date with VFA for Valentine's Day It's been a while since you've heard anything from us about our Foie Gras-Free Pittsburgh campaign, but VFA does periodically check up on the restaurants that made an agreement with us to no longer sell foie gras. Through one of these check-ups, we discovered that one restaurant recently went back on their promise and has snuck foie gras back onto their menu. We need to let the restaurant and any other restaurant that is thinking of doing the same know that this is not acceptable. No restaurant should be supporting the suffering behind foie gras production, especially one that already knows the facts, seen the foie gras farm investigation footage, and has made an agreement not to sell it. Therefore, we are going to hold a protest outside this restaurant on the busiest restaurant day of the year: February 14th, Valentine's Day. The protest will be at 7:00 PM. We'll reveal who the restaurant is and further details about the protest in an upcoming alert, but for now, if you're able to, try to keep an hour clear on Valentine's Day evening to come out and protest with us and express your outrage against businesses that go back on their promises and continue to support foie gras cruelty. Foie gras production is one of the cruelest and most egregious forms of factory farming. It literally means "fatty liver" and is made by force feeding ducks and geese over a third of their weight in food each day through a metal tube. The force-feeding continues until the birds' livers are severely enlarged up to ten times their normal size, creating a serious and painful disease called hepatic lipidosis. This literally makes foie gras a disease sold as a delicacy. Force feeding wreaks such terrible havoc on these birds' bodies that many ducks are not able to walk or even stand up properly. Past investigations at foie gras farms have revealed conditions of the most horrific nature. Ducks were kept in such tight confinement that little room is allowed for any movement, ducks are denied any water to swim in, and many ducks were uncovered who were severely sick or dying from disease, infection, and force-feeding induced conditions, such as aspiration pneumonia and their stomachs literally burst open from being overstuffed with food. An undercover investigation of Elevages Perigord in Canada revealed appalling abuse where ducks were kicked and bashed to death by workers, and ducks’ heads were even ripped off. Foie gras is so inherently cruel that there has been a worldwide movement to ban its sale and production. Over a dozen countries have banned its production, and in the United States the production and sale of foie gras will be made illegal throughout the state of California in 2012, the city of Chicago has already banned its sale, and other states and cities, such as Philadelphia, are working hard to pass similar legislation. Here in Pittsburgh, VFA’s Foie Gras-Free Pittsburgh campaign has succeeded in convincing over 12 restaurants and stores (including Giant Eagle) to stop selling foie gras since January of 2004. With everyone working together, we will all push this deplorable industry out of existence. For more information on foie gras visit www.stopforcefeeding.com Animals in the News We at Voices For Animals think that it is important to keep an eye on animal issues, not just locally, but around the world. We will begin posting relevant articles involving animals that will affect the animal advocacy movement as a whole. These articles will include everything from news stories to scientific discoveries. This week’s entry is good news for all animals who suffer in labs simply to make products like laundry detergent and mascara. New directions in research seem to be leading the way for positive change. In the article “Chips Could Put Lab Rats Out of Work”, a new form of more humane and more accurate testing is being introduced. Animals are often used in research to test the toxicity of products. Rats are the most common victims of these studies, yet they are more resilient to most toxins than humans are. This means that a rat could easily show a product to be "safe" in research when it is actually toxic to humans. The chips mentioned in this article will accurately be able to assess toxicity levels of products without resorting to harming any living being. The chips are filled with actual HUMAN cell cultures and will predict much better the way humans will react to such things. This is truly a great advance for research, human health, and especially the animals killed in labs in toxicity tests. View the entire article here: News Briefs Joseph Beth Bookstore is holding another vegan potluck on February 17th at 2:00 PM inside Joseph Beth’s on the second floor. The monthly vegan potlucks are a new event Joseph Beth is holding, and this will be their third potluck. Each potluck is based on a specific vegan cookbook, with the food being all recipes from that particular featured cookbook. This month the cookbook is La Dolce Vegan by Sara Kramer. It’s a great time to come hang out and enjoy delicious vegan food! If you are interested in attending, you can contact Anna Sophia Wolak to reserve your space and have her send you a recipe to make and share: (412) 381-3600,
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The event announcement can be found here (scroll down): http://www.josephbeth.com/Default.aspx?tabindex=2&tabid=3&storeId=9 Refreshments (vegan) will be provided VFA's first social gathering of 2008 is coming! We're holding our first public meeting (revamped!) of the year on Friday evening, February 29th. Look out for details next week. UPCOMING EVENTS: February 14th, Thursday, 7:00 PM, Valentine’s Day Foie Gras Protest Location TBA February 17th, Sunday, 2:00 PM, Joseph Beth Bookstore (2705 E. Carson St., Southside), Joseph Beth Monthly Vegan Potluck February 29th, Friday, VFA Dinner Meeting, Details TBA |