Ducks & Geese on Factory Farms

In many countries across the world (including the United States), ducks and geese are raised for their meat. Many are forced to live in factory farms before they are killed and used for food. On these farms, birds are normally kept in very cramped spaces and do not get to swim or see the light of day.

To produce an expensive food called, "foie gras" ducks and geese are forced to eat very large and sickening amounts of food each day. To make them eat, humans grab the birds' necks, force their bills open, shove metal pipes down their throats, and pour food directly into their stomachs. The birds are usually fed this way three times a day for about four weeks.

As a result of making ducks and geese eat so much food, the birds get very sick and their livers fatten up and become diseased. These fatty, diseased livers are what people eat and call "pate" or "foie gras."

Ducks and geese raised for foie gras usually become so sick they have trouble walking, breathing and even moving at all. Many die when they choke on the food they are forced to eat or when their stomachs burst.

Ducks and geese are also used for their feathers, called "down." Sometimes down is taken from ducks after they are killed for food, but sometimes it is very painfully plucked out of the bodies of living, feeling birds.

Down is used in jackets, vests, coats, quilts and pillows. This terrible product does not have to be used, though, because there is now fake down that is just as warm as real feathers.