Reply #43: If you admired the goose so much, then perhaps you would care [View All]

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

about the cruelty involved in the production of foie gras.

Here's an article on it. Hopefully, you don't think the goose enjoys this life.

The Grief Behind Foie Gras

Duck and Goose Liver Pate
France produces most of the world's annual 10,000 tons of foie gras--the livers of ducks and geese grotesquely enlarged by cruel force-feeding. But inhumane force-feeding goes on in U.S. factory farms, too--in New York and California.(1)

Cruelty Most Fowl
In 1991, PETA investigated foie gras production at Commonwealth Enterprises located in the Catskills of New York. Despite Commonwealth's many prior claims that it made foie gras without force-feeding the ducks, PETA's investigators observed and documented the following:

Three times a day, workers entered small duck pens in a factory-farm building. The ducks, knowing what was coming, struggled to get as far away from the men as possible.
The workers grabbed the ducks one at a time, held them down, forced open their bills, and shoved a long metal pipe down their throats all the way to their stomachs.
They then squeezed a lever attached to the pipe, and an air-driven pump forced a third of the day's six-to-seven pounds of corn mixture into each duck's stomach.
Each worker was expected to force-feed 500 birds three times a day. So many ducks died when their stomachs burst from overfeeding that workers who killed fewer than 50 of "their" 500 received bonuses.
After four weeks of force-feeding, the ducks were slaughtered, their livers six to twelve times normal size (2,3)--pale, blotchy melon-sized messes instead of small, firm, healthy organs.
A worker told one of PETA's investigators that he could feel tumor-like lumps, caused by force-feeding, in some ducks' throats. One duck had a maggot-covered neck wound so severe that water spilled out of it when he drank. Workers routinely carried ducks by their necks, causing them to choke and defecate in distress.

Foie gras is sold as a "delicacy" which, until Commonwealth was established, was not obtainable "fresh" in the U.S.--only as processed p?t? de foie gras--because of import restrictions.

Only male ducks are used for foie gras--they produce larger livers and are considered better able to withstand the four weeks of torture. Female hatchlings are treated as trash--literally. Commonwealth workers were observed stuffing a nylon feed sack with female ducklings, tying the bag at the top, and dropping it into a trash can filled with scalding water. Workers killed the surviving ones by smashing their heads against the trash can.

Cruelty Charges Against Commonwealth
Based on PETA investigators' evidence, eyewitness accounts, and veterinarians' statements, New York state police raided Commonwealth in April 1992. The company was charged with cruelty to animals. Sadly, the district attorney later gave in to pressure by agriculture groups, withdrew the criminal charges, and persuaded a judge to seal the case file so the proceedings which led to the dismissal would remain secret.

What the Experts Say
Veterinarians who viewed PETA investigators' video footage and read their log notes said such force-feeding would damage the pharynx and esophagus so severely that ducks would not be able to eat on their own after a short period; there is a high chance of infection from using the same pipe on so many ducks without cleanings; and food is likely to enter the lungs, causing pneumonia.

One veterinarian who accompanied police on their raid of Commonwealth Enterprises said, "All of the ducks exhibited signs of illness. Many of those ducks were unable to walk or stand. exhibited ... bill deformities."(4)

Another stated, " can injure the mouth and esophagus. ... The birds appear to be ill; their eyes are dull and their feathers unkempt."(5) A third veterinarian who accompanied police noted that "none was attempting to preen. Only severely stressed or ill ducks allow their plumage to deteriorate to the degree seen in this videotape."(6)

A New York state wildlife pathologist who examined ducks from Commonwealth said, "If this kind of thing was happening to dogs, it would be stopped immediately."(7) He expressed horror at their "greatly enlarged livers, the product of overfeeding by force (livers are easily torn by even minor trauma)," and at one duck's "laceration of the liver with hemorrhage into the body cavity. This type of treatment and farming of waterfowl is outside the acceptable norms of agriculture and sane treatment of animals."(8)

Many New York veterinarians signed a statement that foie gras production should be outlawed because foie gras is nothing but the serious liver disease hepatic lipidosis: "Animals in this condition would feel extremely ill .... Foie gras production, by definition, constitutes clear-cut animal cruelty."

Nobel Prize-winning goose expert Konrad Lorenz was asked to read to the European Parliament a report promoting the foie gras industry. Lorenz refused, saying he felt "hot with anger" as he read the report. "My viewpoint towards the 'expert opinion' which further permits forcible fattening of geese ... can be expressed briefly: The 'expert opinion' is a shame for the whole of Europe."(9)

(continued at link)
References
1. Collum, Joe, WOR News I-Team report, WOR, New York, April 2, 1992.
2. Brawley, Peggy, "Quack Team of New York Farmers Helps Foie Gras Fly on U.S. Menus," People, Dec. 16, 1985.
3. Carson, L. Pierce, "Ducking the Issue," Napa Register, March 18, 1992.
4. Hodge, Tatty M., M.S., D.V.M., signed statement, Nov. 18, 1991.
5. Dunayer, Eric, V.M.D., signed statement, Nov. 7, 1991.
6. Thacher, Wendy, D.V.M., signed statement, Nov. 19, 1991.
7. Stone, Ward B., letter to David Cantor, PETA, May 6, 1992.
8. Stone, Ward B., letter to Dr. Eric Hartelius, Director, Sullivan County Animal Control, Nov. 13, 1991.
9. Lorenz, Konrad, translation of letter to Dr. Dieter Backhaus, editor of Grzimeks Tier/Sielmanns Tierwelt, Sept. 1, 1983 (obtained from Compassion in World Farming, Petersfield, England).