No Foie Gras South Africa

Imagine you've just eaten an enormous lunch. So enormous that you can hardly move. In fact, you are finding it difficult to breathe. You feel bloated, swollen and in agony. "Why did I do it?, you ask yourself. "Never again!" Now imagine you didn't have the choice. What if, like the geese used to produce foie gras, you were forced to repeat the process time and time again? What if, for the next 16 days, at regular - all too short - intervals, somebody pushed a rigid metal tube down your throat and filled your stomach with food. The pain, discomfort and utter misery you would feel can only be imagined.

Importing it, supplying it, ordering it, buying it and eating it means you are part of the cruelty, pain and suffering!

You don´t have to be a bunny-hugging vegetarian to want to outlaw deliberate animal cruelty!

It may be tradition, it may be culture, but times have progressed and the undeniable pain and suffering caused by modern farming methods are unacceptable. Foie Gras is one of many unspeakably cruel items we eat, but unlike chicken which is the mainstay for many South African households, Foie Gras is trendy and for those with the funds to spend outrageous amounts on a small plate consisting of 85% fat and 100% suffering.

Foie Gras is not necessary to our survival.

There are many luxury and exotic, cruelty free things to eat in the world.
We´d like you to add your voice to the growing throng of South Africans saying
NO FOIE GRAS, SOUTH AFRICA!

 

How much cruelty can you swallow?

A local article on women24.com on Foie Gras

http://www.women24.com

 

There is no justification for inflicting suffering.

The foie gras industry often tries to justify its practices by saying they are just an extension of the natural, pre-migration gorging behaviors of migratory fowl, first noted by the Egyptians thousands of years ago. However, this claim is patently false on several accounts.

First, migratory geese never gorge themselves up until the point of death before migration. Such extreme behaviors would be physically incapacitating and would be antithetical to their survival. The livers of wild ducks and geese may expand up to twice their normal size, prior to migration, not a ten-fold expansion as found in forced-feeding production.

Second, the duck species (Muscovy and Mulard or Moulard) used in foie gras production are non-migratory and not predisposed to gorging as are wild geese. In addition, wild birds who do migrate expend the excess fat for migration, unlike the severly confined birds in foie gras facilities. Artificially-induced gorging is extremely painful and debilitating to these birds, as noted by the European Scientific Committee on Health and Animal Welfare's 1998 report, which concluded that "Whilst the domestic goose might well be adapted to store food before migration, it is less likely that a cross between the domestic duck and the Muscovy duck, the Mulard, has such potential for food."

The foie gras industry also defends their production methods by claiming it is a long-held tradition. However, ducks and geese fattened with figs in olden times were not forced to endure living inside dark warehouses in cramped and dirty wire cages with little or no water and force-fed with wide, inflexible and non-lubricated pipes.

Today, the Mulard duck, a cross between the male Muscovy and the female Pekin duck, is the most commonly-used bird in the foie gras industry throughout the world. It is, in fact, the only species of bird used by U.S. foie gras producers because it is considered easier to raise than geese or other breeds of ducks. Because the male Mulard duck is larger and hardier (and thus better able to survive the rigors of force feeding), females are almost never used for foie gras, but are raised for meat.

Would you like Alzheimers with that?

A protein found in foie gras can accelerate a potentially deadly disease process known as amyloidosis that occurs in conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and tuberculosis, according to a study published on Monday.

See the full article at www.iol.co.za

Carte Blanche exposed the cruelty and effectively shut down a local supplier.

See the insert here www.carteblanche.co.za

Please visit the Compassion in World Farming site and see how you can make a difference by buying free range and organic

Website www.animal-voice.org

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1. Please sign the petition at www.petitionspot.com and send it to your friends and family.

2. If you visit any restaurant with Foie Gras on the menu, please ask the manager to REMOVE Foie Gras from the menu.

   Please download a restaurant request card and keep a couple with you, so you can just leave it at reception when you leave.

3. Drop me a line at nofoiegras@absamail.co.za if you find a restaurant with Foie Gras on the menu, or with any comments or suggestions.

Eat Faux Gras instead of Foie Gras

Recipes

Instead of supporting the inhumane force feeding of birds by consuming pate that is made from the enlarged livers of ducks and geese, try these humane "faux gras" alternatives that can be produced without causing any animal suffering.

CLICK HERE FOR RECIPES

The thinking man must oppose all cruel customs no matter how deeply rooted in tradition and surrounded by a halo. When we have a choice, we must avoid bringing torment and injury into the life of another, even the lowliest creature; to do so is to renounce our manhood and shoulder a guilt which nothing justifies.

- Albert Schweitzer