I just heard on the radio that councillors in the northern English city of York are voting tonight whether to ban the sale of foie gras - a 'delicacy' made by force-feeding ducks and geese so much food (usually corn which is boiled with fat to facilitate ingestion) that their livers swell to between six and ten times their natural size - in the city's restaurants.

Typically a few whiny restaurant owners are moaning about "freedom of choice" - ironic really when you consider the cramped conditions that the geese are kept in - and "animal rights activists" spoiling people's eating experience. How about these owners shutting up for a minute and considering just how painful a swollen liver is? For those of us who don't know too much about swollen livers, how about this from www.poultry.org/foiegras.htm - "When a human liver swells to such an abnormal size, the diagnosis is hepatic lipidosis, or fatty liver disease, a very painful condition that requires draining of accumulated fluid from the abdomen. Forty-eight New York-licensed veterinarians - the state where most U.S. foie gras is produced - signed a statement declaring that foie gras production is inherently cruel apart from the terrible feeding method, because foie gras is in fact the painful disease hepatic lipidosis".

A victim of forced-feeding, choked to death on its own regurgitation, lies dead in a pen. (Photo © GourmetCruelty.com)

It's bizarre to think that if you or I were to take, say, a Canada Goose from a local pond (or, as we're talking about the north of England, how about a Pink-footed Goose from the Lancashire WWT Reserve of Martin Mere) take it home, stick into a cage and pour corn down its throat till it nearly exploded, we'd be arrested and charged with animal cruelty. Do it on a farm in the name of "gourmet food" though and apparently it's alright...

Hopefully the good council folk of York will tonight give a resounding shout that, 'No, actually, it's not alright...'.