- Signatures: 935
- Goal: 500
- Deadline: 6-26-2006
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Famed talk show host and television producer Oprah Winfrey recently threw a
lavish ball to honor the 25 black women who she admires most, but dishonored
animals by including dishes like veal and foie gras on the menu. Veal and
foie gras represent the extreme end of cruelty in the animal agriculture
industry. We petition you Oprah to refuse to serve foie gras again. We also petition you to and to let the world know how much suffering these defenseless animals endure by addressing this issue on your show.
| Number | Date | Name | City | State | Zip/Postal Code | Country | additional comments? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 937 | 8:12 am PDT, Aug 9 | jasmine grewal | New Delhi | 110029 | India | ||
| 936 | 1:08 pm PDT, Jul 20 | greta malkotzoglou | Athens | 10440 | Greece | ||
| 935 | 3:37 pm PDT, Jul 16 | joey q | san diego | California | 92130 | United States | Foie Gras is delicious. These animals are raised for feed. Not to frolic next to the lake. Leave oprah alone, she has good taste. |
| 934 | 11:19 am PDT, Jul 11 | Alice Olivo | Trebaseleghe | 35010 | Italy | ||
| 933 | 12:39 pm PDT, Jun 27 | TRACY CROW | CRAWLEY | RH11 7QF | United Kingdom | DON'T DO ONTO OTHERS WHAT YOU WOULDN'T WANT DONE ONTO YOURSELF. | |
| 932 | 7:14 am PDT, Jun 24 | Debbie peterson | Jackson | New Jersey | 08527 | United States | I love ducks alot they dont deserve this kind of torture! |
| 931 | 4:40 am PDT, Jun 23 | James Savage | Hampton | L0B1J0 | Canada | ||
| 930 | 1:30 am PDT, Jun 19 | Andrea Papke | Torrance | California | 90501 | United States | I have always been an animal lover. Currently I have a beloved rabbit named Hazel. Hazel is a beautiful chestnut Hare reminiscent of the star character in "Watership Down." Hazel has many human-like qualities even though he is an animal. One of his favorite things to do is cuddling and watching TV at night. Hazel murmors and stammers with his feet when he is happy or simply trying to express himself. He is a living, breathing creature who knows who his master is, and grieves when I am away. This is why I am so upset about Foie Gras. To see the torture these poor birds go through was so upsetting I just couldn't sleep well thereafter. Now knowing the horror being done in my own state I can not just simply look away or shove it under the carpet. As humans we try to avoid pain. How can we justify inflicting it in such a grotesque way on a beautiful bird for a peice of meat? Doesn't the bird have feelings and nerves like my Bunny? I can't end those birds suffering alone-- but I believe a community of caring people can. Please Oprah help us turn this dream into reality. Together we can set the birds free. Andrea Papke |
| 929 | 6:31 am PDT, Jun 5 | Pam Fioretti | Adelaide | 5095 | Australia | Foie gras is an absolute abomination - I can't believe you would have served it if you were aware of how it is produced. | |
| 928 | 9:12 pm PDT, Apr 19 | Jenny Vegan | United States | United States Minor Outlying Islands | |||
| 927 | 9:40 am PST, Mar 1 | ana maria carvalho | Guaratinguetį | 12512020 | Brazil | ||
| 926 | 12:00 pm PST, Feb 4 | Wendy Horowitz | Branford | Connecticut | 06405 | United States | |
| 925 | 12:45 pm PST, Jan 22 | Natalie Pierre | Hackensack | New Jersey | 07601 | United States | Perhaps you were unaware of the cruelty these poor animals are subjected to when you served such dishes at your ceremony, but now you know how horribly these animals are treated. Please cease to serve such dishes in the future, and do a show about the cruelty of the foie gras and veal industries, thank you. |
| 924 | 3:15 pm PST, Dec 25 | Victoria Mary Stong / Animal Activist | Long Island City | New York | 11101 | United States | Don't let money change you Oprah. |
| 923 | 4:03 am PST, Nov 4 | Deanna Faubert | Kindersley | S0L1S0 | Canada | ||
| 922 | 3:36 pm PDT, Oct 17 | Anonymous | Goldsboro | North Carolina | 27534 | United States | |
| 921 | 3:35 pm PDT, Oct 8 | Anonymous | Denver | Colorado | 80218 | United States | |
| 920 | 10:22 am PDT, Oct 7 | Anonymous | Pasadena | Maryland | 21122 | United States | |
| 919 | 11:00 pm PDT, Oct 1 | Pat Mellini | Mentor | Ohio | 44060 | United States | Please Oprah....do the right thing. |
| 918 | 7:45 pm PDT, Sep 27 | Annette Leary | Forest Hills | New York | 11375 | United States | |
| 917 | 11:54 am PDT, Sep 25 | Meghan Prior | Winston-Salem | North Carolina | 27106 | United States | For goodness sake, Oprah, you do so much good in one direction and then go backwards when you support the outrageously cruel industries of flesh-eating, especially as you serve veal and foi gras at your events. A truly compassionate person does not discriminate between people and animals. All life is to be held in the Light. |
| 916 | 5:59 pm PDT, Aug 22 | Rebecca Bratburd | Chesterfield | Missouri | 63017 | United States | Wow, fois gras AND veal. That is a pretty disgusting act. |
| 915 | 3:43 pm PDT, Aug 20 | Jamella Star | Saint Cloud | Minnesota | 56303 | United States | |
| 914 | 8:26 am PDT, Aug 20 | KATHERINE FEISTER | yardley | Pennsylvania | 19067 | United States | |
| 913 | 9:12 pm PDT, Aug 19 | George Carofine | Livingston | New Jersey | 07039 | United States | |
| 912 | 4:42 pm PDT, Aug 19 | Helga Sokolovsky | Bloomfield | New Jersey | 07003 | United States | |
| 911 | 7:01 pm PDT, Aug 17 | Vanessa Ormiston | Seattle | Washington | 98103 | United States | |
| 910 | 3:44 pm PDT, Jul 14 | gina cogeasca | San Giovanni Vno | Armed Forces Americas | 52027 | Italy | |
| 909 | 7:42 am PDT, Jun 29 | Adriana Velijenco | Braila | Armed Forces Americas | 810009 | Romania | Foie gras is cruel and is responsable for many humane diseases,so why it practice? |
| 908 | 11:10 pm PDT, Jun 24 | Josh McQueen | Annville | Kentucky | 40402 | United States | |
| 907 | 1:54 am PDT, Jun 22 | gabriela gaby | Piatra Neamt | 610226 | Romania | don`t do it !!!!! | |
| 906 | 4:02 am PDT, Jun 14 | Melinda Rankins | Clive | Iowa | 50325 | United States | |
| 905 | 4:59 am PDT, May 24 | Anonymous | Tecuci | 805300 | Romania | ||
| 904 | 11:07 pm PDT, May 12 | Ariel Cook | Rio Linda | California | 95673 | United States | |
| 903 | 10:01 pm PDT, Apr 24 | Share Bond | Palmdale | California | 93550 | United States | I am so surprised that you are unaware of how these animals are tortured before coming to your plates. I know that you are still learning and love your dogs, and even said you'd stop eating beef after having Howard Lyman as a guest on your show. Please learn from this and stop serving animal flesh at your events. It would make a wonderful statement to have a vegetarian meal at your next event. |
| 902 | 4:33 pm PDT, Apr 19 | A. Bowden | Asheville | North Carolina | 28806 | United States | |
| 901 | 7:23 pm PDT, Apr 18 | Robi Anderson | Rancho Mirage | California | 92270 | United States |
Oprah, please refuse to serve foie gras!
Famed talk show host and television producer Oprah Winfrey recently threw a lavish ball to honor the 25 black women who she admires most, but dishonored animals by including dishes like veal and foie gras on the menu. Veal and foie gras represent the extreme end of cruelty in the animal agriculture industry.
We want to commend you for honoring many of the great black women of our
time
at your recent Legends Ball in Santa Barbara. These women all deserve
recognition for their valuable contributions to the world. However, it
upset us to learn that veal and foie gras were served at the dinner.
Veal and foie gras represent the extreme end of cruelty in the animal
agriculture industry. Veal is made from baby male calves who are taken
from
their mothers at one day old, then forced to live in tiny crates that keep
them immobile for 12 to 15 weeks just so their flesh will be tender at
slaughter. Foie gras is made from the enlarged livers of ducks and geese
who
have so much corn mush mechanically forced down their throats that many
die
from ruptured stomachs and punctured windpipes. A recent law will make the
production and sale of foie gras illegal in California by 2012, and
compassionate legislators in Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon and New York
have introduced bills to ban it in their states. We understand that your intention was to honor your distinguished guests by
serving them something special, but there can be no justification for the
amount of suffering forced on calves, ducks and geese for veal and foie
gras.
Foie gras, considered by some to be a delicacy, is produced by forcing
a long metal pipe down the throats of ducks and geese and force-feeding
them massive amounts of grain, resulting in their livers swelling to up
to 10 times their normal size. According to ABC7 news in San Francisco,
"At least three times a day, a worker grabs each duck, shoves a long,
thick metal tube down [his] throat and an air pump shoots up to a pound
of corn into the duck."
A duck's liver naturally weighs around 50 grams. However, to qualify as foie gras, international regulations require ducks' livers to weigh an absolute minimum of 300 grams.
To enlarge the ducks' livers to this extent, enormous quantities of
grain are forced down these birds' throats. On average, they are
force-fed 20-30% of their body weight each day. In human terms, this
would mean that a 150-pound person would be forced to consume 30-45
pounds of food per day! If this were being done to dogs or cats, let
alone to humans, it would be considered torture.
The vast amounts of feed pumped down the ducks' throats causes enormous
internal pressure, and the pipe sometimes punctures the esophagus,
causing many to die from choking on the blood that fills their lungs.
Some birds literally burst, choke to death on their own vomit, or
become so weak that they are unable to fend off rats from eating them
alive. Other ducks die a slow, painful, and premature death by
suffocation from inhalation of regurgitated feed. In fact, because of
the massive toll taken on the birds during the force-feeding process,
the average pre-slaughter mortality rate is up to twenty times higher
than on other duck factory farms.
In addition to enduring force-feeding, the birds also suffer the same
neglectful and abusive treatment of other factory-farmed animals:
overcrowding, mutilations (their beaks are cut off), all their natural
instincts and desires-such as interacting in social groups, mating
freely, keeping themselves clean, nurturing their young, exploring
their surroundings-thwarted, and eventually being sent to slaughter.
Throughout the weeks of force-feeding, the birds are kept in either a
group pen or an individual cage with only wire or plastic-mesh floors
to stand and sleep on. Unable to feel the sun on their backs or ground
beneath their feet, the ducks are held in cages so small that they
cannot fully stand or stretch their wings.
We petition you Oprah to refuse to serve foie gras again. We also petition you to and to let the world know how much suffering these defenseless animals endure by addressing this issue on your show.
We want to commend you for honoring many of the great black women of our
time
at your recent Legends Ball in Santa Barbara. These women all deserve
recognition for their valuable contributions to the world. However, it
upset us to learn that veal and foie gras were served at the dinner.
Veal and foie gras represent the extreme end of cruelty in the animal
agriculture industry. Veal is made from baby male calves who are taken
from
their mothers at one day old, then forced to live in tiny crates that keep
them immobile for 12 to 15 weeks just so their flesh will be tender at
slaughter. Foie gras is made from the enlarged livers of ducks and geese
who
have so much corn mush mechanically forced down their throats that many
die
from ruptured stomachs and punctured windpipes. A recent law will make the
production and sale of foie gras illegal in California by 2012, and
compassionate legislators in Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon and New York
have introduced bills to ban it in their states. We understand that your intention was to honor your distinguished guests by
serving them something special, but there can be no justification for the
amount of suffering forced on calves, ducks and geese for veal and foie
gras.
Foie gras, considered by some to be a delicacy, is produced by forcing
a long metal pipe down the throats of ducks and geese and force-feeding
them massive amounts of grain, resulting in their livers swelling to up
to 10 times their normal size. According to ABC7 news in San Francisco,
"At least three times a day, a worker grabs each duck, shoves a long,
thick metal tube down [his] throat and an air pump shoots up to a pound
of corn into the duck."
A duck's liver naturally weighs around 50 grams. However, to qualify as foie gras, international regulations require ducks' livers to weigh an absolute minimum of 300 grams.
To enlarge the ducks' livers to this extent, enormous quantities of
grain are forced down these birds' throats. On average, they are
force-fed 20-30% of their body weight each day. In human terms, this
would mean that a 150-pound person would be forced to consume 30-45
pounds of food per day! If this were being done to dogs or cats, let
alone to humans, it would be considered torture.
The vast amounts of feed pumped down the ducks' throats causes enormous
internal pressure, and the pipe sometimes punctures the esophagus,
causing many to die from choking on the blood that fills their lungs.
Some birds literally burst, choke to death on their own vomit, or
become so weak that they are unable to fend off rats from eating them
alive. Other ducks die a slow, painful, and premature death by
suffocation from inhalation of regurgitated feed. In fact, because of
the massive toll taken on the birds during the force-feeding process,
the average pre-slaughter mortality rate is up to twenty times higher
than on other duck factory farms.
In addition to enduring force-feeding, the birds also suffer the same
neglectful and abusive treatment of other factory-farmed animals:
overcrowding, mutilations (their beaks are cut off), all their natural
instincts and desires-such as interacting in social groups, mating
freely, keeping themselves clean, nurturing their young, exploring
their surroundings-thwarted, and eventually being sent to slaughter.
Throughout the weeks of force-feeding, the birds are kept in either a
group pen or an individual cage with only wire or plastic-mesh floors
to stand and sleep on. Unable to feel the sun on their backs or ground
beneath their feet, the ducks are held in cages so small that they
cannot fully stand or stretch their wings.
We petition you Oprah to refuse to serve foie gras again. We also petition you to and to let the world know how much suffering these defenseless animals endure by addressing this issue on your show.
Note: This Oprah, please refuse to serve foie gras! petition was submitted by Carolyn Mullin. ThePetitionSite.com is a free service provided to help concerned citizens rally support for issues they believe in. The opinions expressed by this petition do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of ThePetitionSite.com or Care2.com. There is no express or implied endorsement of this petition nor any newsletter offers (except those from Care2.com) by Care2.com, Inc, ThePetitionSite.com, or our sponsors. If you believe this system is being abused, please contact customer support.
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