Animal rights loonies achieve new level of silliness

[RallyJon]

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Force-feeding of ducks and geese to make foie gras, a delicacy to some and an outrage to others, is a step closer to being outlawed in California after the state senate's passage of a bill.

The bill proposed by John Burton, the state Senate's top Democrat, would also ban the sale of foie gras made from the enlarged livers of force-fed geese and ducks.

The bill, passed Tuesday on a vote of 21-14, now goes to the California Assembly, where one lawmaker has also proposed a bill to ban farm-raised salmon in the state.

Only one farm in California currently produces foie gras. If Burton's bill becomes law, it would become effective in seven and a half years and would impose fines of $1,000 for force-feeding birds in foie gras production.

Foie gras from the livers of birds fed normally would not be affected by the bill.

"It's the process not the product we're after," said Dave Sebeck, Burton's spokesman.

Foie gras has become controversial in recent years in California despite the state's reputation for fine cuisine.

Animal rights activists have made foie gras production one of their most visible causes, seeking a ban in California to its production and sale. Vandals last summer trashed a Sonoma County restaurant north of San Francisco and threatened its co-owner at his home for serving foie gras.

[widebody911]

I'm a liberal, and I think this is pretty silly.

How do you force-feed a bird? I guess it's still OK to force-feed chickens, as nobody cares when you choke one.

If you really want them to have enlarged livers, why not feed 'em booze? Worked for Uncle Jake.

[tabs]

The booze worked for Old Grand Dad

[BlueSkyJaunte]

I'm not a liberal but I have no problem with outlawing it. It's animal cruelty, plain and simple.

[vash]

but outlawing farmed salmon????!!!!! that is going to put a hurting on the wild salmon. never had fois gras, or veal. that schit is mean!

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Farmed salmon is a separate bill.

[jyl]

I can't understand the proposed ban on farmed salmon, but I can understand the proposed ban on force-fed goose / duck products. If the force-feeding inflicts excessive pain on the animal - I imagine it does, but have never looked into it - then I don't have a problem with stopping it. Sure, we are the top of the food chain and we kill animals to eat them, that's reality. And we use animals for testing and research, and it hurts them, that's reality too. But there's no need to be unnecessarily cruel in the process.

I saw a documentary once on the preparation of dogs for eating, in China. You catch the stray dog, truss it up, administer severe electrical shocks (some theory about the fear and pain making the meat taste better), burn off the fur with a gas torch, and then you kill and butcher the dog. I'd imagine most everyone on the board thinks that's cruel and shouldn't be allowed. So the degree of cruelty involved in producing our meat is a reasonable issue to consider.

[Evans, Marv]

I'm not in favor uneccessary cruelty to animals (or anything else for that matter), whether they are going to be eaten or not. I saw a video shot of the force feeding of geese once. They have a devise with a long hollow shaft maybe 3/4 inch in diameter. On top it has a hopper. Inside the hollow shaft is a long screw with a crank outside & above the hopper. They put the shaft down the goose's neck through its beak, fill the hopper and crank away. The screw mechanism transports the feed down into the goose. Didn't look like anything I'd want done to me.

[Neilk]

Originally posted by Evans, Marv
The screw mechanism transports the feed down into the goose. Didn't look like anything I'd want done to me.

But it tastes sooooo good.

It is kind of sick how they do it, but then again millions of Americans do it to themselves when they eat fast food. Just kidding.

[TSINGER]

Maybe the activists should kill all the geese and there wouldn't be any foie gras to worry about.

[juanbenae]

has the footage of the palo alto police shooting the mountian lion that wandered into a residental area on any national shows? that was disturbing to say the least. i was pissed.

seems the ban on hunting them has made for a population recovery, in turn they are being forced closer to inhabited areas. i hate to see animals killed or abused for no reason other that human "sport" or because we have crowded them to a point where they have to look for food where we live.

this whole goose thing is the *****s too.

[911ctS]

Originally posted by k911sc
has the footage of the palo alto police shooting the mountian lion that wandered into a residental area on any national shows? that was disturbing to say the least. i was pissed.

seems the ban on hunting them has made for a population recovery, in turn they are being forced closer to inhabited areas. i hate to see animals killed or abused for no reason other that human "sport" or because we have crowded them to a point where they have to look for food where we live.

this whole goose thing is the *****s too.

I hear ya! Where the Fuk do they expect the moutain lion to go? There's so many of us that we keep pushing them into tighter areas. Thats sad ***** man.

and for the ducks and geese... why cant they just raise them like normal animals and let them eat naturally. Im no bleeding heart libral but all this is just too many greedy humans out for a buck. I cant wait for the bug that wipes us out. we dont deserve this place anymore.

[vash]

i remember news footage where an escaped elephant got loose, lost, confused and then acted perfectly normal. but this was bad to the nice people. so the police had to shoot her. the crappyiest of the parts is that the police do not typically have big magnum hunting rifles laying around. they took pistols, shotguns and whatever to kill the beast. it took a long time. she really suffered up to the end. that was disturbing. i was really ashamed they couldnt come up with a better ending.

cliff

[LeeH]

We had a case here where some high school kids dropped bread in the road near a lake, waited for the ducks to gather, then drove through them killing ten of them. Now the community is divided over their punishment. Some want jail time and other say it was just a misguided prank - give them community service. It will be interesting to see how it works out in the courts.

They've plead "not guilty" to the charges of felony intentional cruelty to animals. I'd like to ask them to explain what the circumstances are that make them "not guilty" in this case.

http://www.ahwatukee.com/afn/community/articles/040507d.html