500 Days Since the UK Government Committed to a Foie Gras Import Ban
500 days.
That’s how long the animals have been waiting.
500 days ago, the now UK Government stood before the country and said that if it was voted into power it would end one of the cruellest trades still crossing our borders: the importation of foie gras made by force-feeding.
But, that ban is yet to come through.
I know I’m losing patience…
I’ve no doubt you are too.
These animals have waited far too long already.
While the Government sits on its hands, ducks and geese continue to be violently force-fed through metal pipes until their livers swell up to ten times their normal size – all for a ‘delicacy’ so cruel that its production is outlawed here!
This long-awaited ban is now trapped in the fine print of trade deals, further blocked and delayed while people in suits sit around a table and negotiate.
But these animals’ lives aren’t something to simply trade away.
Behind closed doors, ducks and geese are still being pinned down, tubes forced down their throats, their bodies trembling in pain – all so luxury restaurants can profit from their suffering.
I refuse to give up.
Animal Equality has already exposed the terrible cruelty behind foie gras, won the commitment from ministers to ban imports altogether, and worked with Michelin-starred chefs like Alexis Gauthier to show that a kinder future is possible – by eating plants, not animals.
But our work is far from done.
We need your help to get this ban over the line.
We’re closer than we’ve ever been – but also at one of the most dangerous moments in our campaign so far. Trade negotiators and lobbyists are no doubt already whispering in ministers’ ears, trying to bury this ban quietly before it ever reaches the statute books. They hope the public will forget. That you’ll forget.
But we know what’s at stake.
Because behind every delay, there’s another terrified bird being force-fed tonight. He doesn’t know about trade deals or political promises. He only knows the dark of the shed, the metal of the bars, and the cold pipe that enters his throat again and again, leaving bloodied wounds in its wake.
He’ll never understand why he was chosen to endure this agony – why the hands that once scattered food now bring only pain. And he’ll never know that people like you are fighting for him.
But we know.
We see him and we will fight every day for him to be free.
That’s why we can’t stop now.
Your support today will help my team and I drag the Government’s promise back into the light – to make sure every minister, every negotiator, every person who thinks this cruelty can be tucked away inside trade deals hears the outcry they’ve been ignoring for 500 days.
Your gift can help us flood Parliament with evidence, amplify these animals’ voices, and show that the UK will not build its trade on suffering.
500 days ago, a promise was made.
Let’s make sure it becomes a reality.
Please, don’t let another night pass while another bird is force-fed in silence.
Be the reason their suffering finally ends.
Abigail Penny
Executive Director
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