(article) Foie Gras? It's About Having 'Guts'

[Vegan Joe]

http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=18461194&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=6
^^^ complete article ^^^

If it talks like a duck, and walks like a duck, then it must be ... human.
Such is the rationale of many animal rights activists. It seems that whenever they decry yet another act of animal cruelty (i.e., those who continue being non-vegetarian), they never fail to belligerently tell you that this animal or that animal's treatment is "inhumane."
So there you have it. Perfect logic from Vegan Central.
A number of Philadelphia restaurants were recently the target of these protesters, and right according to script, the animal rights folks claimed their mission was simply one of education, yet restaurant owners felt threatened and their patrons intimidated.

[peace]

Thankfully, for every imbecile like this, there are other, more compassionate people writing for newspapers.


Stu Bykofsky | It's time to ban foie gras, the trifecta of misery

A Zogby International poll of likely Pennsylvania voters said 61 percent never eat foie gras. A piddling 2 percent eat it at least once a year. One-third said they've never even heard of it.

Each year in the U.S., almost a half-million ducks are caged, tortured and slaughtered for their livers, deliberately diseased by the cruel hand of man.

To create "fatty liver," tubes are jammed down the throats of helpless male ducks two or three times a day to force-feed them up to a total of four pounds of grain mush. The forced feedings go on for 12-15 days.

The "feeding" stresses the duck's liver, exploding it up to 10 times normal size.

Foie gras producers (only two or three in the U.S.) say forced feeding is a day at the spa because ducks' throats are tough and desensitized. I have yet to see a photo of a duck happily waddling up to a man holding a feeding tube.

No, a caged duck is grabbed so the tube can be rammed down his throat. Sometimes necks are pierced, sometimes wings are broken. The grotesquely enlarged livers can make it hard for ducks to even walk, but cruelty is overlooked to satisfy the palates of those who'll pay $30-45 a pound at retail for foie gras - the trifecta of misery: unnecessary, unhealthy, unkind

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20070607_Stu_Bykofsky___Its_time_to_ban_foie_gras_ _the_trifecta_of_misery.html