Pro-Animal.
Pro-D.C.
Turning DC voters’ support for animals into law.
it’s time to end force-feeding in D.C.
Force-feeding is a brutal practice that causes suffering to millions of birds, all for an expensive dish served at fancy restaurants.
In recent polling, a majority of D.C. voters said they’d support a prohibition on the force-feeding of birds for foie gras.
The Ballot Initiative
Pro-Animal D.C. is leading a citizen-initiated measure to prohibit the force-feeding of birds and the sale of products made with force-feeding (including foie gras) in the city of Washington.
We’re a team of passionate volunteers working to collect 24,000 voter signatures. Our goal is to put this initiative on the District of Columbia’s 2026 ballot.
How is Foie Gras Made?
Foie gras, French for “fatty liver”, is produced by force-feeding ducks and geese until their livers become diseased and enlarged up to 10 times their normal, healthy size.
Force-feeding typically involves shoving thick, foot-long metal or plastic pipes down birds’ throats multiple times a day to pump large amounts of food directly into their stomachs.
This process can cause painful punctures in birds’ beaks and throats, respiratory distress and suffocation, and difficulty walking as they become too heavy for their legs to hold them. Mortality rates are up to 19X higher than non-force-fed birds.
We believe that animals should be able to live natural and healthy lives. This measure addresses an urgent ethical concern without impacting the average consumer.
By challenging a cruel practice that harms many while benefiting few, Washington D.C. can take a principled stand without overreaching.
GET THE FACTS
40 million ducks and geese
are force-fed worldwide each year for foie gras production.
3 pounds
the average weight of a diseased foie gras liver.
Livers of healthy ducks and geese weigh about 1/10 of this.
1.5 million gallons
of wastewater produced by U.S. foie gras operations.
Waste runoff contains high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, which fuel the growth of harmful algal blooms and oceanic dead zones.
20+ countries
have passed legislation restricting the sales of force-fed fatty liver.
Similar laws have also been passed in California, NYC, and Pittsburgh.
“The process of force feeding birds in order to deliberately induce a disease state is patently inhumane, causing severe physical pain and psychological distress.”
— Dr. Lee Scrader, DVM
Cruelty Has No Place in D.C.
D.C residents care about injustice. The majority of us believe that force-feeding ducks and geese is unnecessarily cruel and should be stopped. It’s time to demand our government take action and protect animals.
There are about a dozen restaurants in D.C. that still serve foie gras made from force-fed animals. As it’s just one item on the menu, there is no evidence that this policy would force any businesses to close down or relocate. New York City and Pittsburgh passed legislation prohibiting the sale of foie gras and not a single restaurant or grocery store went out of business as a result.
Foie gras is not a culinary staple, it’s an expensive, unnecessary ‘luxury’ made with extreme animal cruelty. Join us in supporting this common-sense measure to protect the animals under our care.
Get in touch
Factory farms pollute our air and drinking water, drive out family farms, and confine animals in overcrowded industrial warehouses where they have little space to move.
For decades, the government has failed to regulate the harmful impacts of factory farms and rural communities have paid the price. It’s time to demand better for Washington.
We’re building a coalition of voters, volunteers, and local organizations committed to passing legislation that holds these mega-farms accountable to the communities they operate in.
GET THE FACTS
animals raised in factory farms in our state.
Oregon’s largest egg factory farm, located in Willamette Valley, houses over 2.2 million chickens.
Gallons of water per day are consumed by just 11 factory farms in Oregon
the amount of space required per hen under Oregon’s cage free law
annual pounds of manure produced by factory farms in Clackamas County
“The reality is that these factory farms aren’t the farms of the past. There’s no red barn with cows grazing on pasture. These are industrial factories with animals that rarely see the light of day.”
Our Community. Our Laws.
The rise of factory farming has concentrated profits for big business. Industrial farms have changed the landscape of Oregon at the expense of small farmers, our precious water resources, and the millions of animals who suffer inside the walls of these facilities.
In 2001, Oregon’s largest mega-dairy opened its doors. Within 8 years, Oregon lost more than 600 family-owned dairy farms.
The factory farm lobby has enormous political influence. Since 2021, Tillamook and Threemile Canyon alone, along with their PACs, have given over $450,000 to state legislators and their campaigns.
We’re fighting back against corporate interests by advocating for laws that protect small businesses, our health, and the animals under our care.
