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Food

Graphic Video: Foie Gras Producer Exposed For Animal Cruelty

foiegrasgeese.jpg
Photo by Nacho on Flickr

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Mercy For Animals is making it just that much harder for Hudson Valley Foie Gras to keep their gourmet business going. The animal rights group released an incredibly disturbing video of the practices at the New York-based foie gras purveyor, which is one of the better known sources of the fattened goose livers here in the States.

This video comes on the tail of another jab at the company; a few weeks back, Hudson Valley had their accounts hacked, exposing California chefs who were still using foie despite the statewide ban. Laguna Beach-based Amar Santana was one of those who purchased fattened livers from Hudson. After the information was leaked, he was harassed by animal rights activists and threatened with a lawsuit by PETA, eventually forcing him to stop "gifting" the foie gras with a $50 glass of wine.

Now Mercy For Animals is hoping that this new video will encourage Amazon.com to stop selling Hudson Valley's foie gras products online. The piece showcases the geese being tossed around haphazardly, heaps of dead ducks being discarded in buckets, bloody animals, and the birds struggling as tubes are shoved down their throats.

In an interview with The Huffington Post, Henley called the footage a "misrepresentation" of the company's operations that provides no context.

"This is very standard piece, where it's just the dead duck pictures," Henley told HuffPost, describing the video. "We have provided our mortality statistics to the press previously. They're about the same as a chicken farm. There's nothing unusual or extreme about what we're doing. When you show a picture of a dead animal, taken out of context, then it's inappropriate."

He went on to say that there was nothing wrong with the way the ducks are handled in the video.

You can watch it below.

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