Hugs for Puppies

Katherine Mangu-Ward | June 6, 2007

Hugs for Puppies is the actual name of an animal rights group in Phiadelphia that has been making headlines by picketing restaurants that serve foie gras in a bid to make Philly foie-gras free, like Chicago:

[Chef David] Ansill cq, who owns the boutique restaurants Ansill and Pif, called the protests "self-defeating. People who didn't know what foie gras is, now they are interested in trying it. We sell a little more when they are out here. I thought about hiring them."...

He added that at Ansill, "it is one of our signature dishes, shirred eggs with truffles and cream with a little piece of foie gras on top. But I have now made the foie gras optional on that dish. . . . I'm not forcing anybody to eat it. If you want to eat it, eat it. If you don't, don't."

Hug for Puppies are well-known troublemakers:

In 2004, an FBI task force raided [a house shared by many Hugs for Puppies members], searching for materials related to a campaign to shut down an animal-testing company. Cooney and other members targeted Huntingdon Life Sciences, protesting at its New Jersey headquarters and at the homes of employees and business associates. Cooney also was accused in 2004 of violating a court order restricting protests against a corporate executive.

More foie gras follies here, here, and here.