Foie Gras off the menu at Bearlands

A Gloucester restaurant says it has been 'bullied' into taking foie gras off the menu after a series of protests by a local animal rights group, Gloucestershire Animal Action. Bearlands Restaurant and Wine bar used to serve up Foie Gras - but no more - and I for one am very pleased.

Ducks and geese raised for foie gras are treated in ways that would be illegal if dogs or cats were the victims. Foie gras is produced by ramming pipes down the throats of ducks and geese and force-feeding them until their livers become painfully diseased and enlarged and, in some cases, their organs rupture. This force-feeding through a tube can be for up to 18 days before slaughter.

Foie gras is French for "fatty liver". Hepatic lipidosis is Greek for "fatty liver disease". According to veterinarians, they are one and the same. Foie gras, the liver of a duck or goose swollen to many times normal size by force-feeding to make an expensive "gourmet" appetizer, is the very painful liver disease hepatic lipidosis. It is "the food of the pharaohs", according to some promoters. Of course, the pharaohs are not remembered mainly for their compassion.

Such cruelty is wholly unacceptable in my view - one campaigner was quoted saying: "The torture of small innocent animals should not be a matter of personal dietary choice."

Bearlands could have turned this more into an opportunity - taking foie gras off the menu would be welcomed by most people - yet the restaurant is quoted saying they felt bullied into the decision and felt the police should have done more especially as customers had cancelled meals. I'm all for non-violent action and by all accounts this is what these protesters were doing - in fact from reports I had the protestors were polite and at no time made threats.

A spokesman from Gloucestershire Animal Action quoted in The Citizen said that their protests were lawful and say their campaigners felt intimidated by restaurant staff at times. He said: "We would like to thank caring members of the public who supported our activists and wrote polite letters of protest to the Bearlands restaurant. Now we would ask that people do not contact the restaurant unless to congratulate them."

Email the restaurant here to say well done.

Infact in York after a letter-writing campaign by activists a motion was tabled at the Council and the so-called 'delicacy of despair' is now banned from the council's premises (see Green councillors comment on 5th October blog at: www.readmyday.co.uk/andydag). However a Green party amendment to ask stall holders not to sell the stuff was not passed - infact all but Greens voted against it.

Greens had wanted to see York follow the city of Chicago, USA, who have banned foie gras in its shops and restaurants.

The council's chief executive will however write to Lord Rooker, the minister for sustainable food and farming and animal health, to relay the council's concerns about the sale of foie gras and to request a review of central government policies on animal welfare issues. Peta has an action to email Lord Rooker here - see also at that site a video of 007 Roger Moore joining the campaign.

Here is my hurried email to The Citizen:

Disease, not a delicacy - Ducks and geese raised for foie gras are treated in ways that would be illegal if dogs or cats were the victims. Foie gras is produced by ramming pipes down their throats and force-feeding them until their livers become painfully diseased and enlarged and, in some cases, their organs rupture. York Council have just banned this so-called 'delicacy of despair' from their premises and Chicago in the US has banned foie gras in its shops and restaurants. Many of us are very pleased to see Foie Gras removed by head chef Robert Sinyard from his Bearlands restaurant. 007 Roger Moore has even made a video calling for an end to this cruel practice. I hope as letter-writer Steve Haines notes that Robert Sinyard will now become 'a beacon to other restaurants to do likewise'.