Ask the Chicago City Council to Ban Foie Gras

UPDATE:

The ordinance was passed unanimously out of the Health Committee and will soon be voted on by the entire City Council—your help is urgently needed!

Alderman Joe Moore (Ward 49) has introduced an ordinance to prohibit the sale of foie gras in Chicago. Foie gras (pronounced “fwah grah”) is made by sticking a pipe down the throats of ducks and geese three times a day and forcing up to 4 pounds of grain per day into their stomachs. This force-feeding damages the birds’ esophagi and causes their livers to grow to more than 10 times their normal size, producing “fatty liver,” or foie gras. The birds have difficulty standing, and they tear out their own feathers and cannibalize each other as a result of stress. Many of them die. Read more about foie gras.

Many countries have already banned foie gras, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Israel. Last year, California banned the production and sale of foie gras starting in 2012. Please help put an end to this cruel industry by adding Chicago to the list of communities that have banned foie gras.

What You Can Do

The foie gras industry is lobbying hard against this ordinance, and the Chicago City Council will pass it only if its members hear that their constituents care about this issue. In local politics, just a few polite and persuasive calls and letters can make a big difference. Please call or write to your alderman today and ask him or her to vote for Alderman Joe Moore’s proposed ordinance to ban foie gras. If you get a particularly helpful response, please e-mail us to let us know which alderman you spoke with and what he or she said.

Please also consider setting up a meeting with your alderman to ask her or him to support this ordinance. Such meetings from constituents are extremely powerful, and you don’t need any expertise or experience. If you’d like to find out more about meeting with your alderman, please e-mail In Defense of Animals and someone there will be happy to walk you through it.

To find out how to contact your alderman, call the Chicago City Council at 312-744-3081 or visit the City of Chicago Web site. You can also view a ward map of Chicago.