2023-12-06 16:15:57
The Animal Interest Action Group (GAIA) decided to take the Walloon Region to court regarding the practice of force-feeding geese and ducks for the production of foie gras. This practice is in fact prohibited in the Brussels Region as well as in Flanders and in the majority of EU countries, the animal rights organization said in a press release on Tuesday.
“It has now been nine years since the Walloon government, although competent in matters of animal welfare, has remained idle in the face of force-feeding, even though scientific knowledge confirms the terrible suffering inflicted by this practice.“, explains Michel Vandenbosch, president of GAIA. The practice of force-feeding also contradicts European directive 98/58, which specifies that no animal “is not fed or watered in such a way that unnecessary suffering or harm results“, continues the association which recalls that 25,000 web-footed birds are force-fed each year in Wallonia.
In December 2022, a petition in favor of banning force-feeding launched by GAIA, theUWPA (Walloon Union for the Protection of Animals)) and the FéFRACAF (Federation of Approved French-speaking Shelters for Horses and Farm Animals)) had collected 6650 signatures. Currently, only five Member States of the European Union still produce foie gras, namely France, Spain, Bulgaria, Hungary and Belgium (Wallonia).
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