PROTECT BIRDS.
END CRUELTY.
Join the growing coalition of 100+ local restaurants, veterinarians, and animal rescues that have endorsed Initiative 86.
force-feeding is cruel and unnecessary.
Ducks and geese are still being force-fed until their livers become diseased, all for an expensive dish served at fancy restaurants. It’s time to end this inhumane practice.
What is INITIATIVE 86?
Initiative 86 is a citizen initiative that would prohibit the sale of foie gras made from force-feeding in DC.
Chef Alexis Gauthier
“The practice of force-feeding ducks for the production of foie gras raises significant behavioral and welfare concerns, breaching at minimum three out of five domains of animal welfare.”
— Dr. Ariel Fagen, DVM, DACVB, Board Certified Veterinary Behaviorist
WHAT IS FOIE GRAS?
Foie gras (French for “fatty liver”) is the diseased liver of a duck or goose. After weeks of daily force-feeding, the birds are slaughtered and their fattened livers are sold at fancy restaurants as a pâté, mousse, or sauce.
Why end force-feeding?
1. cruel to animals
What’s happening to ducks and geese on foie gras farms is shocking, even by factory farming standards.
On ‘foie gras’ farms, ducks and geese are pumped full of corn and oil with long tubes until their livers become fatty and diseased.
The process makes birds so diseased and sick that many can barely walk or stand, as they become too heavy for their legs to hold them.
2. UNNECESSARY
Foie gras is a luxury status symbol sold only at the most expensive restaurants in DC. There is no reason to force-feed animals just to cater to the whims of the wealthy elite.
Foie gras is typically included as a single, often seasonal menu item and is not a main source of revenue for any business here in the District.
A recent blind menu experiment showed that removing foie gras from a restaurant menu actually increased participants’ motivation to dine there by 12 percentage points.
WHAT WOULD THE INITIATIVE DO?
Initiative 86 Would
- Stop restaurants and food establishments in DC from selling foie gras produced on farms that use force-feeding
- Prevent the force-feeding of birds within the District, with an exemption for licensed veterinarians feeding sick birds by tube when medically necessary
Initiative 86 Would Not
- Restrict the personal consumption or possession of force-fed products
- Prohibit the sale of foie gras produced without force-feeding
“When I used to serve foie gras, I had no idea about the horrors that hid within its production. I was disturbed when I learnt the truth. … I came across a campaign showing heartbreaking undercover investigative footage of birds on foie gras farms. I watched in disgust, realizing that I could look away no longer. The suffering was unimaginable.”
— French Chef Alexis Gauthier
GET THE FACTS
46,020 signatures
from DC voters collected to put Initiative 86 on the ballot. That’s more signatures than any other initiative in DC history, including Initiative 71 to legalize recreational cannabis.
3 pounds
the average weight of a diseased foie gras liver.
Livers of healthy ducks and geese weigh about 1/10 of this.
20+ countries
including 85% of the European Union have passed legislation to prohibit force-feeding.
Laws prohibiting the sale of force-fed fatty liver have also been passed in California, New York City, Portland, and Pittsburgh.
Watch what happens to ducks inside a foie gras factory farm that sells to DC restaurants.
“Recent video footage from DC’s top supplier of foie gras shows ducks pressing into the corner of the pen and practically climbing on top of each other in an attempt to get as far away as possible from the worker carrying out the force-feeding. This is clear avoidance behavior consistent with fear and distress, and strongly suggests that the ducks find the force-feeding process aversive.”
— Dr. Mickey Pardo, Senior Scientist, PhD in Animal Behavior from Cornell University
Cruelty Has No Place in DC
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.
In the past year, nearly 50 restaurants in D.C. have served foie gras made from force-fed animals. As it’s typically a single item on the menu (often served seasonally), 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 initiative to protect the animals under our care.
Get in touch
Press and Media Inquiries:
E-mail press@proanimal.org
Call: (504)-388-0983
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.
