Foie Gras - Feeding To Death

Foie Gras (French for “fatty liver”) is a delicacy served at many restaurants in South Africa and around the world. France is the leading producer of Foie Gras, producing 75% of world's Foie Gras.

This delicacy is produced by force feeding ducks and geese until their livers expand to about 10 times its normal size. This is extremely painful for these birds as they have to endure being force-fed up to 210kg of corn mush in as little 3 weeks!

Birds used for the production of Foie Gras are trapped in tiny cages, where they barely have place to move or flap their wings. Mechanized feeders come at regular intervals to feed them and metal pipes are forced down their gullets several times a day. These mechanized feeders pump up to one third of the bird’s body weight worth of feed in just a few seconds. This is extremely painful and traumatizing for the birds.

The over-fed birds are unable to perform their instinctual act of preening themselves, have difficulty breathing and acquire a range of diseases from the process. Their bloated bodies are unable to move, and weakens their legs, forcing them in an unnatural direction. The toxins in their blood due to their swollen livers being unable to clean their blood systems causes many diseases in the birds – including brain damage.

Once these birds have suffered and reached a point of near-death, they are slaughtered - their livers end up in restaurants, and the rest of their bodies are discarded!

How can you help?

1. Do not consume Foie Gras!
www.sentience.co.za lists several restaurants in South Africa where Foie Gras is served – you can help by not eating at these restaurants, or requesting that this meal be taken off their menu.
http://www.sentience.co.za/nofoiegras/foiegras-restaurants.php

2. Awareness
Educate others about the Foie Gras issue – teach them how they can help

3. Pledge
You can sign the pledge on www.sentience.co.za not to eat or serve Foie Gras - http://www.sentience.co.za/nofoiegras/signpledge.php.

Desmond Tutu and several other South African celebrities have also signed this pledge - http://www.sentience.co.za/nofoiegras/celebrity.php

4. Petition
Sign the ‘Foie Gras Delicacy of Despair’ petition - http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/foiegras

5. Foie Gras Intolerance
I have come across a few websites that promote Foie Gras, by providing recipes etc. If these sites contain blogs, air your concerns about their site and what they are promoting. Alternatively contacts the webmaster of the site.
You can find some of these sites by simply searching for ‘Foie Gras’ in Google

More Resources

www.nofoiegras.org shows many pictures and videos of the farming of ducks and geese for Foie Gras

You can also find more information on the ‘No Foie Gras South Africa’ campaign - http://www.sentience.co.za/nofoiegras/index.php

References

1. http://www.sentience.co.za
2. http://www.nofoiegras.org
3. http://www.farmsanctuary.org

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