We, the undersigned, urge all restaurants in Palo Alto, Menlo Park and neighboring towns to end the sale of foie gras, the unnaturally enlarged and diseased liver of force-fed ducks and geese. We believe that foie gras production is inherently cruel. To produce foie gras, farmers pump corn mush down the throats of ducks or geese through metal pipes, two to three times a day for a period of several weeks. As a result, the birds' livers swell to between six and ten times their natural size. The force-feeding process induces hepatic lipidosis, a pathological condition, and subjects ducks and geese to lameness, choking, scarring, organ rupture, and respiratory disorders. The birds are crammed for much of their lives in small cages, without access to water or sunlight. During the force-feeding period, mortality rates are 10-20 times higher than mortality rates for non-force-fed birds. Foie gras is a disease, not a delicacy, and it has no place on our city menus. *In 2004, the California Legislature passed a bill into law that will ban the sale and production of foie gras in California in 2012. *Foie gras production has been banned in 15 countries, including Germany, Israel, Argentina, and South Africa. *Many respected restaurants have removed foie gras from their menus, including Charlie Trotter's in Chicago, Chapeau in San Francisco, and Deco in Ventura. *On April 4, 2009, The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution condemning the cruelty of foie gras and commending city restaurants that don't serve foie gras. In response, Mayor Newsom removed foie gras from the menus of all eight of his PlumpJack restaurants. The following local restaurants still sell foie gras. Consider giving a brief and polite call asking them to remove cruelty from their menus. (If you know of any unlisted restaurants that serve foie gras please email [email protected]). Bistro Elan 448 S California Ave., Palo Alto (650) 327-0284 Duck Club at Stanford Park Hotel 100 El Camino Real, Menlo Park (650) 330-2790 Marche Restaurant 898 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park (650) 324-9092 Shokolaat Restaurant 516 University Ave., Palo Alto (650) 289-0719 Soleil 625 El Camino Real, Palo Alto (650) 321-4422 Straits Café 3295 El Camino Real, Palo Alto (650) 494-7168 For a behind closed doors look inside the foie gras industry, view this investigative footage of all three foie gras farms in the United States, narrated by Sir Roger Moore. http://www.stopforcefeeding.com/page.phpmodule=news_media PLEASE notify your friends about this petition by selecting "Email Friends" on top of the page. This is a winnable campaign and every signature helps.