
Breaking new investigations expose alarming animal welfare conditions in French foie gras sector
Ducks in extreme pain, kept in smashed cages, surrounded by decaying duck corpses, trying to survive. The floor of the farm is covered with a thick layer of defaecation. Rats, maggots, and insects everywhere in this sanitary nightmare. The cover of excrement continues outside: a major pollution risk to the area, especially the water sight which is a Natura 2000 classified nature protection territory.
These revolting images were taken in August 2020. They were recorded in a breeding duck farm in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques region of France, attached to a hatchery certified by the PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) - a label which, contrary to consumers’ knowledge, ensures minimum quality standard, but does not take animal welfare conditions into account.
In a public petition, L214 calls on the French Minister of Agriculture to permanently shut down the breeding farm to put an end to the animal suffering, health risks, environmental damage, and the distressing working conditions for employees on this farm.
Further to that, they demand the Ministry of Agriculture to carry out a general audit of the condition of animals in breeding farms and hatcheries in the foie gras sector and to publish the full text of the reports. This precedes similar footage which L214 made public last December, showing thousands of female ducklings left to die in garbage cans in a hatchery. L214’s investigations suggest that there appear to be serious shortcomings in controls in the foie gras sector.