Story By: Jonathan Macias, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
Video Credit: CEN/L214
This sickening footage of ducks being force-fed before being slaughtered to make foie gras has been released in Spain.
The incident was filmed at several plants in Spain by members of the animal rights group ‘Igualdad Animal’ and the footage was later shared on social media.
The organisation released the footage as part of their ‘Stop Foie Gras’ campaign.
According to Igualdad Animal, the mulard ducks’ food portions are gradually increased until they consume two kilogrammes (4.4 lbs) of corn paste every day.
The NGO claims this is the equivalent of an adult person eating 12 kilogrammes (26 lbs) of food daily.
The ducks are reportedly kept in cramped cages and are force-fed through a tube with a diameter of 30 centimetres.
Many of the ducks die from the fattening process, according to the NGO.
A spokesperson said: “We believe that consumers have the right to know how the product is made and how over a million ducks and geese suffer every single year.
“Spain should not be so stuck in the past when it comes to animal welfare.”
The footage also shows images of a fattened duck liver which reportedly weighed 630 grammes (1.4 lbs), nine times bigger than a normal one next to it.
Reports say that the foie gras industry makes up to 4 billion EUR (3.4 billion GBP) worldwide every year.
The biggest producers in Europe are France, Belgium, Bulgaria and Hungary while production is banned in Argentina, Austria, Denmark, Czech Republic, Finland, Israel, Turkey, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
A few days ago, secretly filmed French foie gras factory footage showed ducklings being tossed in the bin and left to suffocate to death as well as stunned ducks waking up while being killed after being force-fed in tiny cages.
Video Credit: CEN/L214
The footage, which made international headlines, was filmed at the Domaine de la Peyrouse foie gras production facility in Coulounieix-Chamiers, on the outskirts of Perigueux, the capital of the Dordogne department in the south-western Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.
The footage was released on 10th December by animal rights organisation L214. It was filmed by a whistleblower from October to November 2019.
The L214 spokesperson Barbara Boyer told Central European News (CEN) that the Domaine de la Peyrouse is a training facility affiliated with the Lycee Agricole de Perigueux (the agricultural high school). It is a school that teaches students how to produce foie gras.
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