A staggering 320,275 people from across Europe have spoken out against the force-feeding of birds for vile foie gras – and today, alongside other leading animal-protection groups, the Albert Schweitzer Foundation, L214 and Compassion in World Farming, we delivered their signatures to EU decisionmakers in Brussels.
Several members of European Parliament – including David Martin, Stefan Eck and Anja Hazekamp – joined us outside the EU Commission to call on the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, to take swift meaningful action against foie gras farming in Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Hungary and Spain. Other MEPs showed their support online.
The law is simple: force-feeding, which scientific evidence shows causes unnecessary suffering and injury, is illegal. The Commission’s own directive prohibits “[providing] food or liquid in a manner … which may cause unnecessary suffering or injury”, and the EU’s Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare concluded that force-feeding is detrimental to the welfare of the birds. Yet, 16 years later, birds are still suffering.
In addition, the Commission has been given evidence that individual cages, which are illegal in the EU, are still in use in France, Hungary and Spain, but to date, the Commission has taken no meaningful action to stop this.
This simply isn’t good enough! Thank you to everyone who signed the petition – we’ll do everything we can to make sure your voices are heard and that EU leaders stop standing back while ducks and geese suffer illegally for this disgusting product that nobody needs.
