There’s nothing “yummy” about foie gras production

It was interesting to learn that Jonathan Ammons’ commentary, “Foie Gras Ban a Waste of Energy,” was a top-read Xpress Opinion piece of 2012 [“2012's Greatest Hits,” Dec. 26]. I’d like to think it was popular because readers found it an amusing case of someone trying to defend the indefensible. [To read the piece, visit http://avl.mx/jk.]

Mr. Ammons suggested that animal activists work to ban factory farming, not foie gras production. Can’t he recognize that the savage atrocities inflicted upon ducks and geese in making this cruel delicacy are a particularly vile form of factory farming? How else would you characterize shoving long metal pipes down the throats of birds several times a day, while mechanized pumps shoot enormous amounts of food into their gullets? This is done to make their livers grow up to 10 times normal size.

If the metal pipes don’t cause internal injuries, their enlarged, diseased livers pushing against other organs often do, making standing and breathing difficult. Sound yummy? Think about that the next time you admire geese flying overhead or feed ducks at the lake. For those who want to know more about the horrors of industrialized animal agriculture, I suggest they visit www.farmsanctuary.org and select “learn.” A short video about foie gras production can be found on YouTube, search “Roger Moore foie gras.”

Foie gras may be an extreme example, but all farmed animals, whether raised in pastures or cramped cages, suffer before their senseless slaughter. The more society learns about how our fellow earthlings are treated, and the many reasons that eating animal products are harmful to our bodies and our planet, the more we’ll see a shift to vegan diets. It can’t come too soon for the millions of animals enslaved and murdered every day in America.

I wish Mr. Ammons and others, attempting to justify torturing and killing animals, would simply state that they don’t believe animals are deserving of consideration. I would appreciate such honesty. I hope those who do consider animals worthy of respect will ponder the words of Albert Schweitzer: "Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight."

— Stewart David
Asheville