The World is Saying, "No More"
Foie gras, or fatty liver, is a product of extreme animal cruelty. It’s made by force-feeding ducks or geese enormous amounts of food until their livers grow ten times the normal size and become diseased.
More than a dozen countries have banned the force-feeding of birds for foie gras because of humane concerns, including the U.K., Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, and Turkey, while the state of California and New York City have outlawed the sale of this cruel product.
Foie gras ban makes progress in Rhode Island
Legislation to outlaw the cruel production and sale of foie gras passed Rhode Island’s House Judiciary committee on April 13, 2022. The full House will vote next, before this important measure goes to the state Senate for consideration.
What is Foie Gras?
Foie gras is a product of extreme animal cruelty.
Foie gras is produced by force-feeding ducks or geese enormous amounts of food—up to one-third of their own body weight daily—using a pipe thrust down the birds’ throats.
After 2 to 4 weeks of force-feeding, the birds’ livers expand up to 10 times their normal size. In this diseased state, known as “hepatic lipidosis,” the liver cannot function normally, causing toxins to build up in the birds’ bodies. Those toxins would kill the birds if they weren’t slaughtered first. The birds have difficulty standing, walking, and even breathing as their enlarged livers push against and displace other internal organs.
Illness is the intention––and accidents and death are common.
According to one former employee of a foie gras facility, “The best way to maximize profits is to get the biggest—and hence, the most diseased—liver. As my supervisor stated, ‘The point of gavage [forced tube-feeding] is to make a duck as sick as possible, to bring them to the brink of death.’”
For ducks raised on foie gras farms, the pre-slaughter mortality rate is up to 20 times greater than that on farms where ducks are raised for meat. Many birds asphyxiate from food being forced into the trachea or end up with puncture wounds from the feeding tube, which can become infected.
The force-feeding process can be fatal if continued beyond just a few weeks.
"The cruelest form of food animal production."
“Having studied the process of force-feeding ducks over a 14-year period, including witnessing two New York producers, I can state that this process is easily the cruelest form of food animal production.
“In no other food-producing system do we intentionally create a painful and fatal illness (liver failure) in thousands of suffering animals, whose husbandry includes the infection by pneumonia, liver engorgement to 10-times normal size, inability to walk due to their swollen abdomen, brain damage from liver failure (some birds show seizures while being force-fed), in addition to the pain of limb fractures and ruptured esophagi from rough handling. There is no need to create and then consume a diseased organ from a suffering duck.”
"The force-feeding of ducks and geese for the production of foie gras is a cruel and inhumane practice that should be banned."
In the news: The Fight to End Foie Gras
Is foie gras inhumane? This bill before the RI General Assembly says yes
March 2021
“Animal rights advocates say production of foie gras is inhumane. Duck farmers say they use accepted agricultural practices. Chefs wonder, if you start banning one food, what’s next on the chopping block? Will Rhode Island diners care? A bill before the General Assembly proposes to ban the import and sale of foie gras in the state. There’s no lack of opinions on the subject.” – The Providence Journal
Featured Rescues
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Foie Gras Survivors
Foie Gras Survivors
Ellen, Carrie, Emily, & Kristen: Ducks Rescued from Foie Gras Factory
Four ducklings escape unspeakable cruelty at Hudson Valley Foie Gras.
read more
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March 13, 2014
Amelie and Alicia: Ducks Rescued from Peril on the Ice
As bitter weather ripped through the Northeast this winter, Amelie and Alicia were struggling to survive on a frozen pond in upstate New York.
Read more -
January 11, 2013
Monet and Matisse: Ducks Rescued from Foie Gras Factory
The details of Monet and Matisse’s journey to our New York Shelter are a mystery.
Read more -
February 23, 2007
Kohl, Harper, & Burton: Ducks Survive Foie Gras Cruelty
Ducks on foie gras farms live nothing like their brothers and sisters in the great outdoors.
Read more
Ways You Can Help
- Never buy foie gras, and educate your friends and family about the cruelty of force-feeding.
- Ask your local and state legislators to ban foie gras production and/or sales.
- Write letters to the editor of your local paper about the need for a foie gras ban.
- Talk to managers and chefs at restaurants that serve foie gras. Explain the cruelty involved and encourage them to remove it from their menus.
