Cruelty, Hypocrisy Behind Foie Gras

Re “Sonoma Is Front Line in War Over Foie Gras,” Nov. 29:

The force-feeding of geese or ducks constitutes torture of animals, pure and simple. It involves forcing a feeding tube into the animal’s mouth and throat and forcing feed down into the stomach above and beyond what it eats normally. It is decadent and indefensible for a civilized person to wish to eat the resulting product -- foie gras.

If someone is in “business” to own, force-feed and slaughter geese and ducks and then “manufacture” foie gras from the enlarged livers, he or she is in the wrong business. How about doing photo reportage on how the process works? It seems like the right thing to do for a newspaper that prides itself on representing both sides of issues.

Dagmar M. Rios

Newport Beach

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I am sick and tired of hearing hypocritical statements about the treatment of animals, such as chef Carlo-Alessandro Cavallo’s. He said, “I love ducks. But I also love foie gras.” I’m sorry, but how does it make sense to nurse sick ducks back to health but not care that other ducks are being held down and force-fed and are suffering because their lungs are full of regurgitated food?

It happens everywhere. People treat their dogs like members of the family but have no problem eating a pig that lived in abhorrent conditions before being forced through a slaughter line. I would rather meet somebody who hates all animals and doesn’t care that they become food than hear one more person try to explain to me how it’s OK to eat a chicken that was de-beaked and lived in a tiny cage but it’s inhumane to declaw their cat. If you eat meat, you are supporting cruelty to animals. Hypocritical reasoning is just another way to create a distance between oneself and the reality of suffering on factory farms.

Aubrie Merz

San Luis Obispo