15,000 ducks die in raging Bethel inferno

Business goes on at Hudson Valley Foie Gras

By FRITZ MAYER

BETHEL, NY — A roaring blaze at a building used to house breeding ducks killed about 15,000 ducks in a fire on October 31. The building, which was rented by Hudson Valley Foie Gras (HVFG), was located on Fittkau Road in Bethel. There were no human injuries reported.

Investigators believe the blaze started in a garage, where heating equipment was located, and jumped to the main building, where fans used to ventilate the structure whipped the flames, which totally destroyed the 450-foot structure. The fire is still under investigation.

Two days later on November 1, one of the owners of HVFG, Izzy Yanay, was serving samples of foie gras to Democrats, who had turned out to the Lodge at Rock Hill to meet with Governor Eliot Spitzer.

HVFG is the subject of several lawsuits brought by the Humane Society of the United States and environmental groups who are trying to stop the production of foie gras in New York. And HVFG products have been the targets of picketing campaigns by animal rights groups in Philadelphia and elsewhere.

Still, Yanay said he did not think the fire was a case of arson or sabotage. He said the building was the least important of the dozen or so buildings that are used in the operation.

“It’s a tragedy because all the ducks died,” he said. But he added that HVFG has been buying breeding ducks from France for years, and the loss of the ducks would not seriously disrupt the operation.

HVFG processes about 325,000 ducks every year in the production of foie gras at its facilities in Ferndale and Bethel.