Current Press Releases

Animal Advocates Around the World Hold “Have a Heart” Events on Valentine’s Day in Support of Farm Sanctuary’s No Foie Gras Campaign

WATKINS GLEN, NY – February 11, 2009 – This weekend, animal advocates around the globe are participating in Valentine’s Day efforts asking people to ”Have a Heart” and say no to foie gras. Participants are taking part in peaceful demonstrations and social events in several cities in an effort to inform the public about the inherent cruelty involved in the force-feeding of ducks and geese to produce foie gras.

Farm Sanctuary, North America’s leading farm animal protection organization, is encouraging animal advocates to join in these Valentine’s Day outreach events held in the following cities: Baltimore, Boston, Capetown (South Africa), Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Orlando, San Diego, Sarasota, Syracuse, Vancouver (British Columbia) and Washington, D.C. The cities of Austin, Chicago, New Haven, Philadelphia, and Portland have ongoing No Foie Gras events planned throughout the year. Up-to-date listings of participating cities can be found by visiting farmsanctuary.org/farm/calendar/nfg.html.

”Have a Heart” No Foie Gras Campaign activities include encouraging chefs and establishment owners to remove foie gras from their menus and sign the No Foie Gras Pledge. Farm Sanctuary’s No Foie Gras Campaign has influenced more than 1000 restaurants in the U.S. to sign pledges to no longer serve foie gras, and major grocery chains including Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s have removed the cruel product from their shelves. 

Earlier this month, the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, the advertising industry’s self-regulatory unit, recommended that D'Artagnan Artisan Foie Gras, the largest distributor of foie gras in the U.S. discontinue spurious claims about the health and treatment of birds used to produce foie gras. The NAD inquiry affirmed that D’Artagnan’s claims that the liver is not diseased and that the birds are treated with the “strictest of animal care standards” are not supported by the evidence. Farm Sanctuary has obtained video evidence from the largest foie gras production facility in the U.S. as well as the three largest facilities in Canada, that show egregious cruelty inherent to the industry. At least two of these facilities supply D’Artagnan with foie gras.

Foie gras (French for “fatty liver”) is the liver of a duck or goose who has been force fed until the organ expands up to 12 times its normal size. During the force-feeding process, workers shove a pipe down the birds' throats and force them to ingest up to one-third of their own body weight daily. This force-feeding causes the painful liver disease, hepatic lipidosis. The hugely-swollen livers of birds in foie gras production push against other organs, causing extreme respiratory stress, and most birds have trouble walking. Necropsies on foie gras birds have shown grossly-enlarged livers, lacerated tracheas and esophagi, pneumonia, throats and gullets severely impacted with undigested corn, and massive internal bacterial and fungal growth. A 2007 Farm Sanctuary investigation at one of the largest foie gras production facilities in Canada revealed that the female ducklings – whose livers are deemed unsuitable for foie gras production – are gassed, or suffocated, to death in plastic bags shortly after hatching.

California and more than a dozen European countries, as well as Israel, once the world's third-largest producer of foie gras, have taken legal actions against this egregiously cruel “delicacy.” In April 2008, the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production released the most comprehensive independent research report to date on animal agriculture in the United States that included a recommendation to ban the practice of force-feeding birds to produce foie gras.

More information about foie gras, including independent research reports on the subject, as well as advocacy materials can be found at nofoiegras.org. Individuals interested in getting involved with Farm Sanctuary’s outreach efforts are encouraged to join the Advocacy Campaign Team (ACT) by signing up at farmsanctuary.org.

Note to media: Photos and video from foie gras investigations available by request.

Farm Sanctuary is the nation's leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the "food animal" industry through research and investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts. Farm Sanctuary shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Orland, Calif., provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals, who have become ambassadors for farm animals everywhere by educating visitors about the realities of factory farming. Additional information can be found at farmsanctuary.org or by calling 607-583-2225.