Support S456 to ban force feeding of geese and ducks in NY
Action Alerts From Animal Defenders of Westchester (ADOW)

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

Support S456 to ban force feeding of geese and ducks in NY

CONTACT NEEDED - Support S456 to ban force feeding of geese and ducks in NY
 
Please contact NYS Senate Chair Patty Ritchie re Foie Gras Bill:
 
Foie Gras is a brutally-gotten 'food' obtained by forcing a tube down the throat of a goose or duck and blasting food in till her liver becomes swollen and ruptures.  Foie gras production has been banned in other countries such as Argentina and Israel, as well as in in California. The largest of three major foie gras production facilities is located in Westchester County, NY.  
 
Undercover video reveals sick birds with untreated open wounds in their necks staggering around in filth.  A veterinarian described seeing birds whose eyes were blinded by infection,  '...were lame or unable to walk without using their wings for support. Some ducks moved by pushing their bodies along the floor. All of the birds in the force-feeding area had dirty, ragged, incomplete plumage, yet none were attempting to preen. Only severely stressed or ill ducks allow their plumage to deteriorate to [such a] degree. … Normal ducks keep their feathers in near-perfect condition.'

Medical care is not provided as it cuts into profits.
 

For more information about foie gras production visit  
 
http://www.cok.net/inv/hudson-valley/
 
http://www.all-creatures.org/anex/duck.html
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4dhcMhj9p8
 
http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/animals-used-food-factsheets/pain-behind-foie-gras/#ixzz2nvl1CyMs
 
In addition to the inherent extreme cruelty, geese and ducks in these facilities spend their entire lives in crates in dark sheds, never seeing the sunlight or experiencing natural behavior.  We've previously mentioned showing rescued ducklings at protests whose beaks were cut and would have to be hand-fed for their entire lives since they could not eat normally. 
 
Bill S456 (copy below) would make it unlawful to force feed birds for purposes of foie gras
 
Please send a short note to NYS Senate Chair Patty Ritchie, asking her to put this foie gras bill on the agenda in January:  
 
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 518-455-3438
Fax: 518-426-6740
 
Your note need only be brief, as follows:
 
Dear Chairperson Ritchie,
 
I understand there is currently a bill, S456, that would make the force feeding of birds unlawful for non-medicinal purposes.  Foie gras production  is an extremely cruel practice which has been banned and decried around the world, and there is no place for it in decent society.  I ask that you kindly place Bill S456 on the agenda in January.  Thanking you in advance for your assistance.
 
Yours truly,
 
Rep. Amy Paulin states she will support this bill if it comes to the floor for a vote.

Email:  Amy Paulin  - [email protected]
 
Thank you all for helping to stop such needless suffering. You are the only hope the animals have. A copy of the bill appears below

STATUS:
S456  AVELLA   No Same as
ON FILE: 01/09/13 Agriculture and Markets Law
BILL TEXT:
 
             STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                           456
 
                               2013-2014 Regular Sessions
 
                 IN SENATE
 
                                       (Prefiled)
 
                                     January 9, 2013
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  Sen.  AVELLA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Agriculture
 
        AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation  to  making
          it unlawful to force feed birds under certain circumstances
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section 1. The opening paragraph of section 353 of the agriculture and
     2  markets law, as amended by chapter 523 of the laws of 2005,  is  amended
     3  to read as follows:
     4    A  person  who  overdrives,  overloads,  tortures  or cruelly beats or
     5  unjustifiably injures, maims, mutilates or  kills  any  animal,  whether
     6  wild  or  tame,  and  whether  belonging  to  himself  or to another, or
     7  deprives any animal of necessary sustenance, food  or  drink,  or  force
     8  feeds  a  bird, by hand or machine, for the purpose of fatty enlargement
     9  of such bird's liver, or neglects or refuses to furnish it  such  suste-
    10  nance  or  drink,  or causes, procures or permits any animal to be over-
    11  driven, overloaded, tortured, cruelly beaten, or unjustifiably  injured,
    12  maimed,  mutilated  or  killed,  or  to be deprived of necessary food or
    13  drink, or who wilfully sets on foot, instigates, engages in, or  in  any
    14  way  furthers  any  act  of cruelty to any animal, or any act tending to
    15  produce such cruelty, is  guilty  of  a  class  A  misdemeanor  and  for
    16  purposes  of  paragraph  (b) of subdivision one of section 160.10 of the
    17  criminal procedure law, shall be treated as a misdemeanor defined in the
    18  penal law.
    19    § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
    20  ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
 
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD03416-01-3

Return to Action Alerts