Posted by
D W W Robertson on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 8:27:49 PM
May 14, 2008 Chicago (Reuters)– “Gourmets in Chicago can order foie gras again after the city council on Wednesday repealed a two-year restaurant ban on a delicacy that critics say is produced at cruel expense to geese and ducks.”
The article continues:
“Animal rights groups decry foie gras as a produce of inhumane treatment as it is made by force-feeding geese and ducks through a steel pipe put down their throats, expanding their livers to 10 times normal size.”
With the publication of a news story about a controversial ban on foie gras in Chicago, we must ask ourselves an important question. Is it ethical and should it be legal to treat ducks and geese this way? I may depart from many conservatives on this issue. And I am no common ally of Animal rights groups because I think that groups like PETA are often dishonest and value animals more than they value human beings. And I commonly favor choice for Americans rather than governmental restrictions. However, I think this is one of those cases where government restrictions may be necessary.
I would never be willing to treat an animal in this way, nor would I cage up a cow to make Kobe beef. It offends my sensibilities about the proper treatment of animals. If I think it is unethical for me to do it, I think it is also unethical for others to treat animals this way. I’m not a vegetarian. I think there are humane ways to butcher animals for food; this is not one of them. And I won't eat foie gras.
If you believe that this should be legal, what treatment of animals should be illegal? Rooster fights? Michael Vick’s dog fights? Why? If that is wrong, why isn’t foie gras wrong?
Finally, I think as a general issue that Americans are too far removed from the natural process of killing animals for food. Most people think it is “gross” to kill a cow for its meat, but they don’t bat an eyelash when they order a burger at Micky Dee’s. Just as federal government becomes irresponsible when they are too far removed from the consequences of their decisions, we too become insensitive to our conscience when we ignore the reality of the cruel treatment of the animals we sometimes eat.