FEW could fail to be moved by the recent story of plucky Perky the duck - whose survival instincts were so strong she cheated death three times. First she was shot by hunters in Florida, then she was found still alive in a fridge after two days - and has now come back to life after heart failure following a major operation!
However, sadly most British ducks aren't so lucky. Incredibly, 19 million of them are slaughtered each year to supply our restaurants and supermarkets.
Almost all of these ducks are from factory farms, housed in cruel and wholly unnatural conditions. Farmed ducks are close relatives of wild ducks like Perky. Like her, they have evolved to eat, swim, dive, clean and play in water. Water is the basis of their life. In today's stinking factory farms, where 10,000 birds are often crammed into one shed, they never even see water, except in their drinkers.
Happily, you can help restore freedom to Britain's favourite bird by boycotting duck meat and by going veggie!
For information on the campaign against duck factory farming, contact Viva!, 8 York Court, Wilder St, Bristol BS2 8QH. 0117 944 1000, www.viva.org.uk/ducks JUSTIN KERSWELL Campaigns Manager
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