Foie Gras targeted again by animal rights group

Are the ducks really in pain?

By FRITZ MAYER

FERNDALE, NY — The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) notified Hudson Valley Foie Gras and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) last week of their intention to sue the company for “over 900 violations” of the federal Clean Water Act.

Asked if the violations are serious, Peter Petersan, the HSUS deputy director of animal protection litigation, said, “The Clean Water Act doesn’t provide for degrees of violation; either there is a violation or there is not.”

The HSUS claimed that the foie gras company has released unacceptable amounts of chlorine, ammonia and fecal coliform into the Middle Mongaup River in Ferndale. According to Petersan, under the procedures of the Clean Water Act, the company now has six months to respond to settle the suit or the DEC could step in and force compliance. If neither of those things happens, the suit would go forward.

Izzy Yanay, general manager of Hudson Valley Foie Gras, has heard it all before.

“Why,” he asked, “is the Humane Society of the United States suddenly interested in the Clean Water Act? It’s got nothing to do with water. They want to shut us down because they think we hurt the ducks.”

The company is required to regularly provide information to the DEC. Yanay’s version of the facts is that the vast majority of these violations are mere typos. For instance, “we’re not allowed to release any chlorine into the river,” he said. When writing the figures regarding chlorine into the record, instead of listing less than 0.1 percent of chlorine going into the river, the recording engineer wrote less than 1.0 percent.”

The impending lawsuit, however, does not come as a surprise. There has been a move among some lawmakers in New York and organizations such as Farm Sanctuary, which bills itself as the nation’s leading farm animal shelter and advocacy organization, to ban the production of foie gras in New York.

Foie gras, which in French means “fatty liver,” is produced by force-feeding young ducks or geese with corn to the point where their livers swell to several times the normal size. Yanay’s company deals exclusively with ducks. Even Yanay admitted the production technique “looks bad, on its face.”

But, he said, the opponents have “absolutely no scientific evidence that the ducks are in pain.”

Indeed, not even the experts of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) could come to an agreement on that point. At a convention in July 2005, members considered a resolution stating, “The American Veterinary Medical Association hereby opposes the practice of force feeding ducks and geese to produce foie gras.”

Dr. Walter McCarthy, a member of the New York delegation, said that ducks have, “a very tough esophagus that can accept a great deal of abuse.”

A Vermont delegate, Dr. Robert P. Gordon, said his visits to a foie gras facility convinced him that the ducks were not distressed or suffering. According to an account written by a member of the AVMA, he said, “it is more distressing to take a rectal temperature in a cat.”

The convention ended with delegates taking no action on the resolution, although several members said the organization needed to develop policies within a broader context on the treatment of farm animals.

The broader context is also something that interests Meghan Beeby, a spokesperson for Farm Sanctuary. Her organization is concerned with the way a growing number of animals are raised in “concentrated feeding operations,” with thousands of animals in low-light situations with little space to move. The conditions are light years away from the image of chickens on the old family farm, freely cavorting in the barnyard, randomly pecking at insects in the dirt.

In taking a strong stand against foie gras producers, Beeby said her organization is trying to get rid of the worst perpetrators of cruelty against animals.

Yanay saw their efforts from the opposite direction. He said if groups such as Farm Sanctuary are successful in shutting down foie gras production here, “they will then try to stop all animal agriculture in the United States.”

Whether that is true or not, the national movement against foie gras is gaining strength. A ban on the sale of foie gras within the Chicago city limits was passed in April by the city council on a vote of 48 to 1. The city of Philadelphia is considering a similar ban.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a ban on the production and sale of the delicacy in California in 2004, but the law doesn’t take effect until 2012.

Foie gras production is also prohibited in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany and Israel. Israel was formerly the largest producer of foie gras on the planet. Since the ban, according to Yanay, the production has moved to other countries, such as Hungary.

For now, however, production in Ferndale is still legal and all the publicity has been good for business.

“Last year we had our best year ever,” Yanay said.