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During the Christmas season,
advertisements for Foie Gras invading our TVs,
radios,
magazines,
newspapers and the Internet.
Said jewel of French gastronomy,
defended with fervor in France
the production of Foie Gras is however prohibited in many countries.
At what point are we blind?
Beyond force-feeding, we really know how Foie Gras is produced?
Here is the survey conducted by the association in different rooms L214 gavage typical French production.
Our investigation begins in a huge hangar where the ducklings are parked.
Every year in France,
80 million ducklings are hatched for Foie Gras production.
Only males are overfed.
the female ducklings are usually gassed or crushed a few hours after hatching.
Ducks are usually raised on free range farms
until they are 80 days old.
They are then transported to the force-feeding units.
"Ducks lean we put 6 and ducks by cons, it does the same job with the same truck
but that is not 4.
Because they take up more space, and then they are a bit tired ... especially here ... "
In the force-feeding sheds,
the ducks may sometimes be kept in pens,
but most typically in individual or collective cages
Gavage in the park is only about 10% of the production.
The force-feeding process consists in introducing large quantities of corn
into the birds through a tube down their throat.
The huge amounts of food forced into these birds’ stomachs twice a day
are meant to provoke a disease:
Hepatic Steatosis.
The fat remains in the liver instead of being distributed throughout the bird’s body.
It is easy to see that
the birds try to avoid the tube.
Within roughly two weeks,
the liver swells to 10 times its normal size,
compressing the birds' lungs and other internal organs,
and making any movement very difficult.
The birds suffer from heat stress because they are over-fed.
Constant panting is a sign of their very poor condition.
Gavage in the park is not much fun for ducks,
but there are worse ...
Prohibited since 1 January 2011 in Europe
individual cages are still used extensively in France
for 75% of overfed ducks.
In these cages, birds can neither move
or turn,
or stretch their wings.
For 12 days
they are force-fed to the hydraulic pump or pneumatic
by means of a metal tube
button to crop.
Ducks try to escape and are desperately trying to escape gavage.
In nature,
ducks spend most of their lives on the water.
They are clean animals, social animals,
with many interactions with conspecifics.
"- Hey there summer the duck fat like that there ...
"Before leaving the abattoir if you fall in ventilation failure
If there's anything that walks
You may not realize it, you return in the evening you what ... 300 dead
- Oh yeah?
Ah yeah yeah
- How Has it there at all in the room?
- 800 "
Many diseases,
disorders and infections can occur in overfed ducks and geese.
The number of birds that die during gavage is considerable.
The report of the Scientific Committee European Veterinary
mentions 10 to 20 times more dead ducks overfed
that ducks fed normally.
Every year in France,
1 million birds die during gavage.
Ducks can live up to 20 years.
Foie Gras ducks are sent to slaughter at three months old.
They are then electrocuted,
slaughtered and cut open.
Their liver will be sold as "foie gras",
and their meat will be labelled as "magret" or "confit'.
During transport the ducks are clearly stressed,
overweight and struggle to breathe.
Following the ban on individual cages,
collective cages are increasingly in use.
Not so sure ...
European laws have been interpreted in French.
Birds must flap their wings?
Okay, but only one at a time.
The floor should be covered with litter ?
Next question, please ...
The small space the ducks are allowed gets even smaller
when the bars come down to block them for force-feeding.
Twice a day, in seconds,
are 500g 1kg of paste that are injected directly into the crop.
"- They are long, across ...
One, I'll have to fill it.
"- So it is upside down is it?"
"Yes, it is all wrong ... you see"
"- Who's after you take the ducks? They are slaughtered uh ..."
"- Labeyrie, is ..."
"- This is Labeyrie?"
"- Yeah."
The desire to eat liver may justify such suffering?
There are laws to protect animals against cruelty.
But for more than 37 million ducks raised for foie gras production every year,
these laws are deliberately ignored.
We are told that the "necessary suffering" are acceptable.
But the consumption of this product presents no character of necessity.
Person
not even those who profit from this trade, dares pretend.
While the price per kilo is always lower for the consumer,
foie gras is an expensive product paid by animals
whose body is deliberately sickened.
How can we still pretend to be a tradition of savoir-vivre
a custom that is sinking into the throat of a caged animal
the tip of a funnel or a pneumatic pump?
Please, leave foie gras off the menu :)
Like us,
animals have feelings, emotions
and the will to live.
Let's act together now to protect them.