Skip to Content
PETA
Animals are not ours
to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way.
  1. Home
  2. /
  3. News Releases
  4. /
  5. PETA Statement: Shame! Defiant Anti-Ban Foie Gras Dinner Went Ahead Despite PETA Appeal to Respect Shooting Victims, Our Mutual Neighbors

PETA Statement: Shame! Defiant Anti-Ban Foie Gras Dinner Went Ahead Despite PETA Appeal to Respect Shooting Victims, Our Mutual Neighbors

For Immediate Release:
November 13, 2026

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Washington –

Below, please find a statement from PETA Founder Ingrid Newkirk regarding Mallard’s decision to go ahead with its foie gras dinner last night after PETA canceled its planned protest out of respect for neighbors affected by the deadly Logan Circle shooting:

Shame on José Andrés and Mallard restaurant, one block from the DC shooting. Out of respect for our mutual close neighbors affected by horrific violence just blocks away, PETA canceled its protest outside Mallard and appealed to the restaurant to cancel its foie gras dinner, too. Mallard showed its true colors by going ahead with a dinner celebrating defiance of DC voters’ decision to ban foie gras, while foie gras defender José Andrés attacked us for asking for that consideration. Ducks and geese used for foie gras are the poster birds for violence: being force-fed through pipes shoved down their throats until their livers become grossly enlarged and sometimes burst, and then they’re killed—so celebrating foie gras is a celebration of violence and should never have happened.

PETA’s DC office and Mallard are both just blocks from the site of Thursday’s shooting. DC voters recently approved Initiative 86, which bans force-feeding birds and the sale and distribution of products from force-fed birds.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

For Media: Contact PETA’s Media Response Team.
Contact
JOIN US
Get urgent alerts, breaking animal rights news, and easy ways to take action for animals!
PETA bunny
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
At least one of the following fields is required.
Untitled

By clicking, you agree to receive automated texts and calls from PETA and accept our terms and conditions. Message and data rates may apply. U.S. mobile users only.

Want Recipes and Lifestyle Tips?

Text VEG to 73822 to get the latest vegan lifestyle tips, recipes, and urgent action alerts texted right to your phone.

Terms for automated texts/calls from PETA: https://peta.vg/txt. Text STOP to end, HELP for more info. Msg/data rates may apply. U.S. only.

“Almost all of us grew up eating meat, wearing leather, and going to circuses and zoos. We never considered the impact of these actions on the animals involved. For whatever reason, you are now asking the question: Why should animals have rights?”

— Ingrid Newkirk, PETA Founder and co-author of Animalkind

Read More