Chicago, Ill.— On the heels of the Chicago City Council Committee on Health’s unanimous vote in favor of Alderman Joe Moore’s proposed ordinance to ban the sale of foie gras, In Defense of Animals (IDA) and the Animal Protection and Rescue League (APRL) have sent videos narrated by Sir Roger Moore, documenting the cruelty ducks endure on foie gras farms, to each member of Chicago’s City Council. 

The groups hope the footage of ducks crammed in waste covered sheds, suffering and dying from organ rupture after having two pounds of corn mush mechanically forced down their throats, will convince any undecided members to vote in favor of the ban. The force-feedings are necessary to produce foie gras because ducks would never willingly ingest the massive amounts of food necessary to produce the enlarged, diseased livers. The footage confirms the cruelty inherent in foie gras production. After viewing the video during Tuesday’s hearing, Hudson Valley Foie Gras manager Marcus Henley acknowledged in his testimony that force feeding takes place as depicted, but claimed that the ducks were not “aversive” to it. Committee Chair Ed Smith then grilled him, asking if they had been watching the same video, and said the ducks were clearly “terrified, wildly flapping their wings to try to escape the long metal pipe being jammed down their throats.”

Sir Roger Moore, best known for his appearances as James Bond, joins Sir Paul McCartney, actors Loretta Swit, Wendie Malick, and Chicago native Dennis Franz in supporting Alderman Moore’s foie gras ban. “Foie gras, which means fatty liver, is a painful liver disease that should be treated by a veterinarian, but is instead cruelly and intentionally induced on foie gras factory farms throughout the world,” says Moore in the video. “As revolting as it is to eat an animal’s diseased organ, the cruel treatment of the birds is even more disturbing.”

To produce foie gras, workers shove rigid pipes into birds’ throats twice everyday for three weeks. The ducks who survive the feedings suffer from a painful illness that causes their livers to swell up to ten times their normal size.

Under Alderman Moore’s proposal, violators would face fines ranging from $250 to $500. “We applaud Chicago Alderman Joe Moore for making one of the cruelest practices in animal agribusiness unpopular and unavailable and extending the compassion and respect Midwesterners are known for to abused ducks and geese, the victims of the foie gras industry,” says Kristie Phelps, IDA Campaigns and Communications Manager.

The controversy surrounding foie gras production has become a hotly debated international issue, and at least fifteen countries including Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Israel, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K., and the Czech Republic have banned force-feeding because of its inherent cruelty. Following public sentiment, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill into law that will ban the production and sale of foie gras from force-fed birds. Similar bans have been introduced in Massachusetts and Illinois.

For more information, please visit www.StopForceFeeding.com. The video can be viewed online at http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/Prefs.asp?video=foie_gras_USA.

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