To produce “foie gras” (the French term for “fatty liver”), workers ram pipes down the throats of male ducks and geese up to three times each day, thereby pumping 2-4 pounds of grain and fat into their stomachs, in a process known as “gavage” (picture from: wakkerdier.nl). This force-feeding scenario causes the birds’ livers to swell to up to 10 times their normal size.
These birds are often treated roughly and left injured and suffering. So many ducks and geese die from ruptured organs resulting from overfeeding. Many birds have difficulty standing because their engorged livers distend their abdomens, and they may tear out their own feathers and attack each other out of stress. The birds are kept in tiny cages or crowded sheds. They often lame from foot infection due to standing on metal grilles during the gavage and have a wide range of health problems. Some ducks die of aspiration pneumonia, which occurs when grain is forced into the ducks’ lungs or when birds choke on their own vomit (source: PETA).
Force-feeding animals is against the law in many countries, including Israël, Argentina, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Force-feeding should be prohibited everywhere!
Each year 26.000 tons of foie-gras is produced, mainly in France, Hungary and Bulgary, but also in Spain and Belgium.
To use the name ‘foie-gras’, the livers of the birds need to have a weight of at least 300 grams (for ducks) and 400 grams (for geese) (the European Regulation (EC) no. 543/2008), and therefore force-feeding is necessary. Although European Directive 58/98/EG requires that no animal should be fed in a way that entails unnecessary animal suffering. The abolition of the minimum weight for the livers solve the problem of unfair competition for those producers who choose not to force-feed their animals for the production of foie gras. Moreover, the animal well-being will benefit by abolishing the minimum weight, because the birds do not need to be forced-fed.
Please speak out now asking the European Union and all countries in the world to stop force-feeding and abolish the minimum weight of the livers!
And in the country's where force-feeding is against the law, we demand an end on importing and selling foie gras! When country's are against force-feeding (by law), they have to stop importing and selling it to, because if they don't, they still give permission to force-feeding and that cannot be right!
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Sincerely,
Marlie Scholten
