Image from change.org petition started by M Vancouverite

The information below is from a change.org petition about the horrific practice of serving a dish called foie gras that is a result of a torturous process conducted on ducks. The petition page includes not only information and the option of signing but also other actions you can take to make a difference. There is also a list of high end Vancouver restaurants that serve the dish. Please check it out and take a few moments to do something.

We are asking Vancouverites to help us stop a dish served in our high-end restaurants across Vancouver, our kind City. As animal lovers we can not support restaurants that serve this dish when it’s production has been banned in many European countries due to animal cruelty concerns. 

Foie gras is French for “fatty liver”. These waterfowl are force-fed several times a day. This intrusive and painful experience begins at 12 weeks of age and lasts three weeks until the animals are slaughtered. These birds are usually confined in tiny cages throughout their life to make it easier for the farmers and will never see water their whole life. The force feeding causes the birds’ liver to become diseased and fatty and swell up to 10 times their normal size.Some birds die from  grain being forced into their lungs or when they choke on their own vomit. Other health problems include  fungal infections, diarrhea, impaired liver function, heat stress, lesions, and fractures of the sternum.

BCSPCA says: “One argument commonly put forward in defense of foie gras is that force feeding is an acceptable practice since ducks and geese will naturally gorge themselves in preparation for migration.  This argument does not hold for the mulard, the strain of duck most commonly used in the production of foie gras. “ ( See BCSPCA’s Report- Scientific case against Foie Gras, 2009)