Edited by CJ Tointon
Among the tortures that humans inflict upon
animals are incarceration, immobilisation and assault. In contrast is the great
freedom of movement existing in the wild - walking, swimming and flying. One of
the freest of wild creatures is the duck. It can walk, swim and fly, even when
living in close proximity to humans. Like those in our local park, living on an
island in the middle of a lake.
But when humans see money in ducks, when
their exploitability has been noticed, the duck is no longer safe. Unlike their
cousins in the park, there are other ducks who know nothing of freedom or
swimming or flying. These are the 'foie gras' ducks, who know only imprisonment
and unspeakable suffering at the hands of humans. They must endure the worst
tortures humans can devise.
They are held in captivity, immobilised and
subjected to daily assault whilst being reared for their fatty livers. They're
allowed just 14 weeks of life before they're killed. During this foreshortened
existence, they live within a body which is being deliberately ruined - just so
that the wealthiest (and nastiest) humans can eat their livers!
Down on the foie gras farm, unimaginable
cruelty is inflicted on these birds. Towards the end of their 100 day life,
they are subjected to the worst torture - being force-fed in order to
artificially enlarge their livers. The Egyptians did it. The Romans did it. The
French perfected it. They refined this cruelty to an industrial scale under the
protection of the law which makes foie gras belong to "the protected
cultural and gastronomical heritage of France". Last year, in France, 38
million ducks and geese (mainly ducks) had their livers forcibly enlarged to
produce 19,000 tonnes of foie gras. The French use the word gavage to
describe the final stage of the production phase. The French method of foie
gras production has now spread throughout the world, although in some countries
(including Australia) its production is illegal. Here, however, we allow the
stuff to be imported and sold (how hypocritical is that).
At the forced feeding stage, the duck is usually
immobilised, encased in an individual cage with a hole in the roof bars through
which its head and neck protrude. Feed is administered using a long tube forced
into the bird's oesophagus through which feed is forced to expand the lower
part of the oesophagus. During this stage, the normal liver function is
impaired due to the obstructing and expanding of the abdomen (also making it
difficult for the birds to breathe). The feed (usually corn boiled with fat)
deposits large amounts of fat into the liver. Every day, twice a day, for the
last two weeks of the young bird's life, this process is continuous.
At just three months of age, with liver swollen
to ten times its normal size, the duck is sent for slaughter. Its extracted
liver is then made into a parfait or pate and sells for up to $130 per kilo.
That means 'good business' for producers and with its rich, buttery, delicate
taste an apparently wonderful experience for the gastronome.
It's difficult to say anything more than the
obvious here, unless we speak of the human capacity for brutality. The
big-brained human seems to be capable of bravery and kindness, wit and
intelligence, but this same human can also be capable of exceptional acts of
cruelty. And there's no better example than that of the producers and customers
of foie gras. It shows a dark side to human nature, where one can be seduced
into condoning a barbaric behaviour just for the sake of a dinner table
delicacy. Here we can see how a 'luxury food sensation' can overcome the
ethical strictures one is born with. It isn't hatred of ducks which brings this
about, but an ability to numb one's ethics. It's not so much a lack of scruple
as it is a record of a species without moral sense. There must be a
considerable lack of compassion for someone to want to experience this
particular 'pleasure' when it comes at such great cost to that otherwise
much-loved creature - the duck. If one is wealthy enough to have access to foie
gras, it seems that no internal argument based on common knowledge of foie gras
production will be strong enough to interfere with the pleasure that awaits the
eating of it.
Foie gras is at one extreme of an ethical
blocking that takes place when one KNOWS an animal has suffered terrible pain
and trauma so that a wanting can be satisfied. But, of course, this extreme is
at one end of a long line of cruelties associated with the production of all
meat, eggs and dairy.
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