To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing this letter in reference to a video I watched that I am told was taken at a California Foie Gras plant within the past year. I have several professional concerns about the methods used to raise these birds. First, although these animals have a genetic predisposition to store larger amounts of fat in their liver, they do so for the specific purpose of preparing to migrate. The birds in the industry do not migrate and do not presumably receive the external environmental cues that would normally signal them to begin to eat more than usual. In addition to this, under natural situations, the birds eat a particular amount voluntarily. In light of that, it is a false statement that the techniques the industry uses is simply mimicking a natural behavior. Despite the misrepresentation of the industry using natural techniques, force-feeding in itself can cause significant discomfort. Second, I saw several birds that were exhibiting clinical signs of respiratory difficulty and or distress (panting, open mouth breathing, distinct abdominal effort to breathe, and tail bobbing). In the case of Foie Gras birds, the respiratory difficulty is likely to be due to the enlarged liver, which can compress the air sacs, making breathing difficult in general and certainly during times of stress. Several of the animals looked as if they were limping, which leads me to my third concern, the environment in which they are raised. The environment was completely barren and they seemed to have only access to a wire floor. This certainly has the potential to stress their musculoskeletal system and their cognitive welfare is certainly not being addressed living in barren cages. Fourth, many of the seemingly "older birds" or birds which have been there longer were filthy and they did not have access to water to bathe themselves. Also, during the video, aggression between birds was noted.

I am concerned about the feeding apparatus used to force-feed these birds. I could not adequately assess the equipment via video but it appeared that there might be potential for repeated trauma to the birds' crop and esophagus if the machinery used is abrasive or the feeding technique itself is traumatic.
From what I witnessed on this video, I would not consider this to be humane treatment of birds.

Sincerely,
Emily D. Levine, DVM
October 20 , 2003