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We advocate on all animal protection and exploitation issues, including experimentation, factory farming, rodeos, breeders and traveling animal acts.

Animal Defenders of Westchester
P.O. Box 205
Yonkers, NY 10704

Letters

Foie-gras company doesn't deserve funds

Published in THE JOURNAL NEWS www.thejournalnews.com 6/20/06):

(Original publication: June 20, 2006)

We are calling upon Gov. George Pataki to withdraw his $420,000 taxpayer-funded grant to Hudson Valley Foie Gras, a notoriously cruel company that force-feeds ducks to expand their livers to 10 times their normal size.

This can cause painful bruising, lacerations, sores and organ rupture. The birds' livers become diseased and can enlarge more than 10 times the normal size, making it difficult for the birds to move comfortably. Video shows birds dragging themselves by their wings to get around, and one bird, too sick to move, being eaten alive by rats www.gourmetcruelty.com .

The Humane Society of the United States has filed a notice of intent to sue Hudson Valley Foie Gras for more than 900 violations of the Clean Water Act, "including illegal discharges of chlorine, fecal coliform and ammonia into the Middle Mongaup River."

The European Union, California and Chicago recently banned its sale. Trader Joe's graciously discontinued this item when we showed them two precious little babies whose beaks had been cut by this farm, stopping their ability to eat normally. This is done so that ducks in such filthy, crowded facilities don't bite each other in frustration. These babies will have to be hand-fed for the rest of their lives. In 2005, Assemblyman Jack McEneny, D-Albany, introduced a bill that would ban the practice of force-feeding ducks and geese in New York.

Surely our tax dollars can be better spent on issues of real importance to New York state.

Kiley Blackman, Yonkers
The writer is spokesperson,
Animal Defenders of Westchester

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