Boycott Lark Creek Inn Restaurant in Larkspur Until They Stop Serving Foie Gras

The Lark Creek Inn Restaurant in Larkspur (Marin County) has not returned our calls for a meeting to discuss the end of the sale of foie gras at their restaurant. We have hand delivered a letter, a package of facts and video tape footage of the cruel process of producing foie gras to the restaurant and have still not heard back from them. We now officially call for a boycott of The Lark Creek Inn Restaurant until they stop buying and selling foie gras. Please write and let The Lark Creek Inn Restaurant know how you feel about their choice of profit over ending the pain and suffering of ducks and geese in the making of the pate and that you choose to boycott the cruelty. Our letter to The Lark Creek Inn Restaurant follows:

March 11, 2005

ATTN: Bradley Ogden, Chef/Owner
ATTN: Beth Casey, General Manager
Lark Creek Inn
234 Magnolia Avenue
Larkspur, CA 94939

Dear Mr. Ogden and General Manager of Lark Creek Inn,

As a representative of the Animal Rights Committee of the Marin Peace & Justice Coalition I have left three messages at both your San Francisco and Larkspur offices in the past three weeks asking for an appointment to discuss the sale of Foie Gras at the Lark Creek Inn in Larkspur but I have not received a return call. In my last voicemail message to the general manager we explained our intentions which are as follows: if we do not hear back from you by the end of this week, Friday, March 11th, we will take that to mean you are not interested in sitting down with us to discuss the issue. If that is the case we will call for an official boycott of the Lark Creek Inn and announce a letter writing campaign. I said we would prepare a package of information with a video for you to learn about the torture involved in the production of foie gras – if you are not already aware - and if we still do not hear from you we will begin plans for holding protests outside the restaurant. I explained that we are not at all interested in having to do any of this and would prefer not to but that as long as you are choosing profit over compassion then we will have to speak up for the suffering ducks and geese.

We encourage you to make the compassionate decision and follow the lead of restaurants around the world, including Fork in San Anselmo, Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago, Chapeau in San Francisco, Deco in Ventura, California, and Barclay Prime in Philadelphia that have taken a stand against this hideously cruel product. I am confident that once you view the suffering of these ducks on the enclosed video, you will agree to no longer support an industry that cruelly subjects ducks and geese to such abuses. This humane change in your menu will be celebrated by more than 2000 members of the Marin Peace & Justice Coalition, the city’s restaurant goers, more than 80,000 members and supporters of In Defense of Animals (IDA), the Animal Protection League (APRL) and concerned citizens across the country.

Foie gras production universally ranks as one of the cruelest forms of animal agriculture, and public outrage at the inhumane practices inherent in the foie gras industry has resulted in bans of the product in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Israel, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the Czech Republic. Consumers around the globe have demanded the removal of foie gras, the fatty, diseased liver of a duck or goose, from restaurant menus. In the U.S., public awareness of the cruelty of foie gras is rising rapidly, as seen recently in California where Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill into law that will ban the production and sale of foie gras from force-fed birds in the state.

Investigators confirmed the cruelty in foie gras production first hand after witnessing ducks crammed in filthy, feces-ridden sheds and ducks suffering and dying of organ rupture after being force fed nearly four pounds of corn mush a day through metal pipes shoved down the birds’ throats. The three daily force-feedings frequently choke, injure or kill the birds by gouging open their throats with the metal pipe. By the end of the force-feeding process, ducks are physically debilitated with livers five to ten times normal size and many are unable to stand or walk.

We hope to hear back from you soon and would be happy to answer any questions you may have or meet with you to discuss this matter further.

Thank you for your compassionate response.

Sincerely,

Kate Danaher
Animal Rights Committee
Marin Peace & Justice Coalition