By LARRY MITCHELL
Chico Enterprise Record
October 1, 2004

Animal-rights leaders Thursday hailed Gov. Schwarzenegger's signing of a bill to ban the force-feeding of birds.

Gene Baur (formerly Bauston) , co-director of Farm Sanctuary, said the action represents the first time a state Legislature has banned a factory-farming practice.

"California will be a shining example" to the rest of the country, he said.

Jordan Rasmussen, a spokeswoman for the California Restaurant Association, was not happy about the new law.

She estimated about 500 California restaurants will eventually have to stop serving foie gras. Making this liver pat requires geese or ducks to be force-fed large amounts of food.

On the bright side, from her perspective, she said, is the fact the bill won't take effect until 2012. Perhaps by then a new way can be found to make foie gras, she said.

Farm Sanctuary, which maintains a farm-animal refuge near Orland, and several other animal-welfare groups sponsored Senate Bill 1520, which was carried by Sen. John Burton, D-San Francisco.

Bauston said force-feeding ducks and geese is cruel. A legislative analysis of the bill states that in force-feeding, a metal tube is put down the throat of the bird and large amounts of food are pumped into its stomach. The process makes the bird's liver very fat, a requirement for making foie gras.

One reason her association opposed the bill, Rasmussen said, was that it sets a precedent by banning a food even though it's safe for people to eat. She said arguments for the ban were based on emotion, not science.

Bauston said Schwarzenegger's signing SB1520 was a victory for good values.

"There are more important things in life than gastronomic pleasure," he said. "What's more important something that tastes good, or being kind to another animal?"

He said he hopes more states will ban foie gras. A number of countries in Europe and other parts of the world have already banned it.

Most of the world's supply of foie gras comes from France and Hungary. In the United States, there are three farms where foie gras is produced. Two in upstate New York produce 90 percent of the product. The other 10 percent is produced in California by Sonoma Foie Gras, which has a farm with about 20,000 ducks in the San Joaquin Valley.

The bill was amended to take effect after eight years so that the owner of Sonoma Foie Gras would have time to try to convert his farm to some other form of production.

Besides banning force-feeding of birds, the bill prohibits importing foie gras into California.

The bill passed in the state Senate on a party-line vote, with Democrats supporting it and Republicans opposing it. In the Assembly, most Democrats backed it and most Republicans were against it, but six Republicans voted for it, and four Democrats opposed it.

Butte County's Republican Assembly members and state senator voted against the bill.

Bauston said his organization next plans to develop legislation that would ensure that poultry are slaughtered humanely.