Excerpts from the investigator’s log on the cruelty of foie gras production

The cruelty of gavage:
•    The best way to maximize profits is to get the biggest -- and hence, the most diseased-- liver. As my supervisor stated, "The point of gavage is to make a duck as sick as possible, to bring them to the brink of death.”

•    As soon as the ducks received their dose they would frantically shake their head from side to side, trying to spit out the food and often vomiting. Even half hour later walking down the rows of ducks, you could see some ducks vomiting.  During the last few days of feeding it became easier and easier to force feed the ducks because they were so sick they could no longer struggle.  

•    After force feeding, ducks would vomit profusely and become so sick that they would gasp for air, unable to lift their heads. So many ducks died from the force feeding that each week before garbage collection there would be dozens of garbage bins overflowing with dead ducks.

•    I saw one worker who had a duck that could not digest any food and whose throat was always hard as rock from undigested food, but he would continue feeding it even though the food would just come out of the duck’s mouth. He continued to do this for two days until the duck finally died.  

•    During the last few days most ducks could not even lift their heads and everyday for the last few days many ducks would die. It was not uncommon during the last few days to have six or seven dead ducks after single a feeding.  In fact, if the mortality rate was not high enough, we were instructed to boost the dosage given to the ducks . . . We did this fully knowing that we would kill some of the ducks by increasing the dosage so rapidly, but that it was worth it because of the increase in liver size in those ducks that managed to survive.

The cruelty of confinement:
•    Often the ducks in an attempt to turn around or in fear of humans would get stuck in the bars. Wings, beaks, necks would become lodged between the bars, often resulting in broken wings, massive welts and open wounds on their beaks and bodies.  On numerous occasions I saw ducks that had gotten their necks lodged in a way that left their head stuck in the water trough, resulting in the duck drowning.  

•    The grate the duck stood on for the 14 days of force feeding measured only 7.5 by 10 inches-- smaller than a sheet of paper.

Cruelty at the hatchery:
•    On every occasion there would be live ducklings thrown into the garbage. Sometimes I observed only one or two live ducks (this was usually when the garbage bag was put outside during the cold winter days), but sometimes almost every duck seemed to be alive.

•    Opening the garbage bin, it would not be uncommon to see the whole top layer of day old duck peeping and moving about, yawning stretching.  Sometimes the baby ducks would be alive the next day.

Cruelty at the slaughterhouse:
•    The ducks would be grabbed from their cage and hung by their legs upside down on a sort of conveyor belt system. About 20 feet down the line the ducks were supposed to go through an electrical bath, which was supposed to render them unconscious. I stood directly in front of this bath and saw that the overwhelming majority of birds would lift their necks, missing the bath completely. I witnessed almost all of the ducks being slaughtered while fully conscious. I even saw this happen while the government veterinarian talked with the man in charge of slaughtering the ducks.

Incidents of general cruelty:
•    On many occasions I saw unnecessary acts of violence from frustrated workers. One worker would repeatedly bash the head of an agitated duck against the wall and would always say, “You won’t try that again.”

•    I saw one worker carrying a duck by the wings while he was profusely vomiting blood. A steady stream of liquid was coming out of the duck’s mouth and the worker was laughing and commented that this duck for sure would not make it.  I checked on this duck later and he had died, even before the cages were put on the truck and was left lying in a pool of his own vomit in a cage with two other sick ducks

•    …So he grabbed the duck and again stepped on the duck’s back and twisted the neck several rotations. This time he backed up and said with a laugh that he had ripped of the ducks head.  I went over to look and saw that the head had been ripped off and was hanging attached to the body only by a single thread of tissue. Bright red blood was gushing from the decapitated body and the duck was convulsing madly.  

•    I saw on numerous occasions workers who would kick with all their force a duck, so hard that the duck would be launched through the air 15 or 20 feet. Ducks at the rear of the flock would be picked up by the necks, heads or wings and thrown toward the enclosure, sometimes 20 or 30 feet away… Sometimes a worker would totally lose his cool and punch a duck repeatedly while swearing until the duck stopped moving.  

•    I saw a quarantined duck that had swallowed a cord, and a few feet of the cord was sticking out of the duck’s mouth. A worker picked up the duck by the cord and began swinging the cord, and the duck was swung in circles over and over again until the cord was ripped out of its mouth.