"These people are cramming huge amounts
of food down the throats of ducks while children are starving." - Animal
Protection & Rescue League
"Forcing food down a bird's gullet beyond the limits
of its appetite will cause pain and suffering. Force feeding
quickly results in birds that are obese and in a pathological
state, called hepatic lipidosis or fatty liver disease." - Professor
Ian Duncan, Poultry Welfare Specialist, University of Guelph,
Ontario.
A lawsuit by the Animal Protection & Rescue League (APRL)
and In Defense of Animals (IDA) alleges that the force-feeding
of ducks results in "extreme, unmitigated pain and suffering as
well as crippling injuries to the ducks, and that the owners of
Sonoma Foie Gras are in violation of several sections of the California
penal code on animal welfare. An APRL investigation of the farm
last year revealed ducks too weak and overweight to defend themselves
as rats gnawed on their wounds, documented at www.APRL.org " (APRL
press release, March 2, 2004).
To get rid of foie gras, California lawmaker, Senate President
Pro Tem John Burton, has introduced a bill, SB 1520, that would
ban foie gras from being produced and consumed in California. Burton
told to the Sacramento Bee (March 1, 2004), "We just
shouldn't be cramming a tube down a duck's throat and forcing in
food to make foie gras."
California and New York are the only US states that produce foie
gras; force feeding ducks and geese to make "fattened liver" is
banned in Israel (effective March 2005), Germany, and several other
European countries. For Information: www.APR
L .org , www.gourmetcru
e lty.com , and www.avar.org
/ foiegras2.html . For more information on bills to ban foie
gras in California and New York: www.nofoie
g ras.org .
What Can I Do?
- Please write to your California State Senator by March
26 th and ask him or her to support SB 1520. Tell your Senator
it is time to prohibit animal cruelty practices, especially for
luxury food items. Senators can be mailed at the State Capitol
Building, Sacramento, CA 95814. If you don't know who your state
senator is, call 916-322-9900. For updates, contact www.avar.org/foiegras2.html or
call 530-759-8106.
- Write to your New York State Assembly member
and State Senator, and ask them to cosponsor AB 1821 and SB 5153,
respectively (c/o Legislative Office Building, Albany, NY 12248).
Assembly Bill 1821 and Senate Bill 5153 would amend the state
animal cruelty law to make it "unlawful to force feed a bird,
by hand or machine, for the purpose of fatty enlargement of the
bird's liver."
AB 1821 is sitting in the Assembly Committee on Agriculture,
and SB 5153 is sitting in the Committee on Rules. To get these
bills heard and moving, New York constituents must speak out!
Call the Chairpersons of these committees and urge them to bring
up the bills for debate:
Assemblyman William Magee
Chair, Assembly Agriculture Committee
641 Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12248
Ph: 518-455-4807
Mageew@assem b ly.state.ny.us
Senator Joseph L. Bruno
Chair, Senate Rules Committee
909 Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12248
Ph: 518-455-3191
Bruno@sen a te.state.ny.us
For more information on New York State, contact campaign@farmsanctu
a ry.org or visit www.nofoiegras.org or
call 607-583-2225 ext. 247.
- Write letters to the editor against foie gras and
against cruelty to animals in all areas of animal food production.
Urge people to try the delicious vegan pates available at progressive
food stores.
United Poultry Concerns is a nonprofit organization that promotes the compassionate and respectful treatment of domestic fowl. http://www.upc-online.org
United Poultry Concerns, Inc.
PO Box 150
Machipongo, VA 23405-0150
757-678-7875
FAX: 757-678-5070 www.upc-online.org
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