Force-feeding animals is not ok

SUMMARY: Prohibits effective BILLPASSDATE, the force-feeding of a bird to enlarge the bird’s liver beyond normal size.  Prohibits a product from being sold in Florida if it results from force-feeding. Specifically, this bill:

1. Prohibits a person from force-feeding a bird to enlarge a bird’s liver beyond the normal size or hiring another person to do so. 

2. Prohibits a product from being sold in Florida if it results from force-feeding a bird to enlarge its liver.

3. Includes in the definition of “bird,” but does not limit the definition to a duck or goose.

4. Defines “force feeding” of a bird as a process that causes the bird to consume more food than a typical bird of the same species would consume voluntarily while foraging.  

5. Force-feeding methods include, but are not limited to, delivering feed through a tube or similar device inserted into the bird’s esophagus.

6. Authorizes a peace officer or officer of a humane society or animal control agency to issue a citation to a person or entity that violates these provisions.

7. Requires payment of a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for each violation and up to $100,000 for each day the violation continues, payable to the local agency initiating the citation, to offset costs.

8. Authorizes the district attorney or city attorney to prosecute a person or entity that violates these provisions.

9. States the intent of the Legislature in delaying the operative date of these provisions to allow entities engaged in agricultural practices that include raising and selling force-fed birds to modify their business practices.

FISCAL EFFECT:  Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal.

COMMENTS

1. Purpose of this bill.  According to the author’s office, this bill is intended to prohibit the force-feeding of birds to enlarge their livers beyond their normal size. Force-feeding is the common method used to produce foie gras and is accomplished by restraining the bird and inserting a 10- to 12-inch metal or plastic tube into the bird’s esophagus and delivering large amounts of concentrated meal and compressed air into the bird.  This process is repeated up to three times a day for several weeks until the liver reaches the desired size and the bird is slaughtered. The author’s office contends that the force-feeding process is so hard on the birds that they would die from the pathological damage it inflicts if they weren’t slaughtered first.

2. Background.  Foie gras is a French term meaning “fatty liver” and is produced by force-feeding ducks and geese large amounts of meal that enlarges their livers.  Fatty liver is made traditionally from geese.  However, in recent years, there has been a widespread change to the use of ducks rather than geese, mainly for financial reasons.  The duck chosen for foie gras production is a hybrid between Muscovy and domestic duck.  European countries such as France and Hungary are among the largest producers. In the United States, there are two producers of foie gras, Hudson Valley Foie Gras Company and La Belle Poultry in upstate New York. Foie gras production is outlawed in California and New York City.

3. Other countries. There are at least 14 countries that have banned the practice of force-feeding birds to produce foie gras, either with explicit language in the laws or as part of the general animal cruelty law.  As of January 2004, Italy banned foie gras production, following the lead of Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, and Poland.  Other countries whose laws have been interpreted to ban the force-feeding of birds for foie gras production include Holland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.  Perhaps most significantly, Israel, once the world’s fourth largest foie gras producer, recently banned foie gras production.  

4. Grocers are refusing to purchase foie gras.  According to recent press articles, Trader Joe’s and other grocers have decided to stop carrying all duck meat and foie gras.  Whole Foods Market, a national chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, with over 145 stores and $3.2 billion in sales, announced that it is developing enhanced animal-treatment standards, starting with those for ducks, and expects to implement the new standards by the end of 2004.  Whole Foods has made it clear that its producers do not want to be connected with any foie gras company. 

5. Arguments in support.  According to the proponents, the foie gras industry has attempted to justify the practice of force-feeding by claiming that it takes advantage of a bird’s anatomical abilities, mimicking the natural tendency of birds to overeat in preparation for migrating.  They argue that this is a specious argument for several reasons.  First, while some geese and ducks put on fat stores for migration, the Muscovy duck is a tropical bird that does not migrate in the wild.  The Pekin duck (which the Muscovy is crossed with to produce the Mullard duck commonly used in foie gras production) is entirely domesticated and incapable of flying.  Therefore, it is much less likely that this type of duck has the potential to store such amounts of food during force-feeding.  Second, under no conditions would ducks gorge themselves to the extent that their liver was swollen 10 times its normal size.  As they point out through studies, the health of the duck in foie gras production is compromised to such a great degree that the birds would die if they weren’t slaughtered after being subjected to the force-feeding process for just a few weeks.  Finally, the diet forced upon the birds is severely deficient in several ways and is destined to produce physiological suffering.  It forms an unbalanced diet intended to artificially induce hepatic lipidosis in the liver.  If it were given under natural conditions, the birds would refuse it.  Even if the food was given in normal quantities, the birds could not survive due to the deficiencies that it would lead to in the long term.