Push for Bans on Foie Gras, Wild-Animal Exhibits Heads to Marriott Boardroom

As a Shareholder, PETA Will Urge Hotel Chain to Adopt Truly Helpful Animal-Welfare Policies

For Immediate Release:
May 9, 2019

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

“Will Marriott be the responsible corporate citizen that it purports to be by banning wild animal displays and the sale of foie gras at its properties?” That’s the question that a PETA representative will ask at the hotel chain’s annual meeting on Friday. The action comes after Marriott informed PETA just last week that the company has “no plans” to prohibit these forms of food and entertainment that animals suffer for.

When:    Friday, May 10, 11 a.m.

Where:    1331 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C.

“It’s shocking that Marriott has simply shrugged off the horrific abuse of animals in the foie gras and entertainment industries,” says Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on the company to stop enabling cruel animal exhibitors and stop offering the diseased livers of force-fed birds immediately.”

Marriott properties have hosted exhibitions featuring wild animals, including elephants and big cats, on many occasions within the past few years. Animals used in these types of displays are frequently forcibly separated from their mothers at a young age and beaten or whipped in violent training sessions in order to break their spirits. They’re often chained or caged for hours or even days on end, unable to take more than a single step in any direction.

Geese and ducks used in the foie gras industry are force-fed via pipes that are rammed down their throats, causing their livers to become painfully diseased and swell to up to 10 times their normal size. In some cases, the birds’ organs rupture. Those who survive the force-feeding are violently killed, and their bloated livers are sold as foie gras. More than a dozen countries have banned the vile food, and several companies—including IKEA and Whole Foods—have stopped selling it.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.