Vancouver Residents Be a part of Animal Equality to Condemn Foie Gras
On March 6, dozens of involved residents in Vancouver, Washington voiced their assist for a city-wide ban on the sale of foie gras at Metropolis Corridor. Following a night workshop to debate three proposed animal payments, together with one on foie gras, Metropolis Council gathered for a public listening to, the place supporters joined Animal Equality in “Ban Pressure Feeding” T-shirts. At this listening to, advocates shared their testimonies and expressed their assist of the ban.
One Metropolis Council member remarked on the scale of the group, acknowledging the significance of this concern to residents. The Council members even voiced their very own issues in regards to the moral dilemma posed by foie gras. The workshop concluded with the vast majority of the current Council members declaring their willingness to concern a public assertion condemning its sale in Vancouver.
Whereas that sentiment was definitely appreciated, it was additionally met with frustration. A mere public assertion, also called a “non-binding decision,” wouldn’t create any enforceable regulation to stop eating places from promoting the product. Because the Council’s motion falls wanting their preliminary objective, hopeful Vancouver residents have since requested them to rethink their plan of action and transfer ahead with a full ban – simply as California and New York Metropolis have beforehand performed.
Foie Gras: The World’s Cruelest Meals?
Foie gras, French for “fatty liver,” is a luxurious meals produced by force-feeding geese or geese. This course of consists of shoving foot-long tubes down the animals’ throats and pumping meals immediately into their stomachs. The surplus energy given to those geese and geese causes them to retailer fats of their livers, which can develop as much as ten occasions their regular measurement and start to yellow from illness.
Along with deliberately inducing liver illness in these birds, producers place them in excessive confinement till their deaths. These birds are sometimes unable to stroll or stand attributable to swollen abdomens, and lots of endure from a number of organ failures or esophageal bleeding and scarring. They’re typically killed after just a few months of life.
Foie gras manufacturing includes a number of components of cruelty that go above and past the traditional horrors of manufacturing facility farming. Notably, foie gras farmers are deliberately making an attempt to illness the animals of their care. Whereas all manufacturing facility farming is inhumane, I can’t consider something extra antithetical to ‘good animal husbandry’ than that.
-Sarah Hanneken, Authorized Counsel for Animal Equality
Throughout our investigations into foie gras farms throughout Europe, Animal Equality additionally encountered damaged beaks, residing animals lined in blood, and others mendacity lifeless of their cages or on the concrete flooring. Most of those cages had been too small to permit them to flap their wings. Even child ducklings encountered tough dealing with and untimely demise.
Governments and Companies Crack Down on Cruelty
If efficiently handed, Vancouver would comply with the State of California and New York Metropolis, in addition to a number of European nations, India, Israel, Australia, and Argentina, all of which have banned the manufacturing, sale, and/or import of foie gras in some capability.
Animal Equality’s marketing campaign towards foie gras started in 2011, when it launched an investigation into French farms. After uncovering bodily and psychological abuse on these “higher-welfare” farms, Animal Equality headed to Spain, the place we found egregious instances of cruelty in 2012.
Following these investigations, each companies and governments all over the world had been spurred to motion. This started with Italy’s largest grocery store chain, which ended the sale of foie gras in 2012, adopted by the Indian Ministry of Overseas Affairs, which handed a nationwide ban on its import in 2014.
Animal Equality’s investigations even led to the momentary closure of German duck farms in 2014 and a well-supported 2022 marketing campaign towards the Ministry of Agriculture in Spain.
In the meantime, our partnership with celebrities has been mounting strain on the UK authorities to ban the import of foie gras. As reported by Huffington Publish in 2018, British actor Peter Egan joined Animal Equality to ship 100,000 signatures to Prime Minister Theresa Could. This motion led a number of eating places to take away foie gras from their menus, whereas celebrities Alesha Dixon, Diane Morgan, and Miriam Margolyes joined the marketing campaign this 12 months.
In the US, Portland resident Sarah Hanneken–Authorized Counsel for Animal Equality–has initiated an effort to ban the sale of foie gras in her residence metropolis whereas supporting native residents’ efforts in close by Vancouver. If handed, these bans may set a precedent for different localities across the nation to comply with swimsuit.
Altering problematic industries typically begins with native laws. Native governments can and will characterize their constituents’ values by passing bans on merchandise that pose pointless dangers to public well being and morals. Portland and Vancouver are stuffed with involved residents who need to see their cities take cost within the struggle to alter the merciless foie gras business. These residents are participating within the one course of out there to them to make this occur: participating within the democratic course of. We’re doing our half to make sure their pleas don’t fall on deaf ears.
-Sarah Hanneken, Authorized Counsel for Animal Equality
The Tide is Rapidly Altering
As a “luxurious” meals product, foie gras is each pointless and simply changed by cruelty-free options. You may forestall geese and geese from ache and struggling by leaving them off your plate.
You can too signal our petition to voice your issues to legislators nationwide. At Animal Equality, we’re demanding protections for probably the most defenseless amongst us.
Signal our petition calling for a ban on the sale and manufacturing of foie gras in the US.
Nonetheless, geese and geese usually are not the one animals struggling within the animal agriculture business. That’s the reason hundreds of thousands of Individuals have shifted to a plant-based weight-reduction plan, changing meat, dairy, and eggs with numerous animal-free options. Simply visit Love Veg to discover tips, tricks, and recipes to make your transition seamless.
You don’t have to attend for legislative change to take motion for animals. You may defend them from ache and struggling at present.
