Pyrénées-Atlantiques: In its last video, L214 shows “the horror” in a breeding duck farm for the foie gras sector - 20 Minutes

  • The animal defense association L214 denounced in a video the “disgusting” and “revolting” conditions in a duck farm with foie gras in Lichos (Pyrénées-Atlantiques).
  • L214 found a "totally unsanitary" building, "decomposed" and "not picked up" duck corpses, and "collapsing" cages.
  • It is "the worst breeding that we have had the opportunity to see since the beginnings of L214" in 2008.

The association for the defense of animals L214 has, in a video Thursday, denounced the "disgusting" and "revolting" conditions in a breeding duck breeding with foie gras in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, which it asked for the "urgent and definitive" closure , announcing to file a complaint for cruelty.

"Completely unsanitary" building, "decomposed" and "not collected" duck corpses, "collapsing" cages, thick "stream of excrement" which "overflows outside", maggots, rats which "proliferate" »: For L214, one of the buildings housing male ducks in Lichos (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), 50 km from Pau, reached“ heights of horror ”. And the living ducks, about 150, live among as many dead.

A veterinarian will be on site from this Thursday morning

In a statement released this Thursday morning, the Minister of Agriculture and Food "asked the prefecture to initiate a full investigation of the state of the farm." The services of the prefecture which visited the site on Wednesday afternoon "were able to confirm some of the breaches of the regulations in force," the statement said.

“From August 20 in the morning, a veterinarian will be on site to examine in detail the condition of the animals and take the necessary protective measures. The minister asked the prefecture for a formal notice of the operation, which could lead to a suspension of activity, ”specifies the ministry's press release.

"The necessary measures will be taken" assures Minister Julien Denormandie, quoted in the press release. "We are increasing the checks to protect animals and take strict measures so that precisely these unacceptable drifts, but isolated and individual, do not bring discredit on an entire profession in which I assure my support and my confidence" adds. he.

"The worst breeding that we have had the opportunity to see"

The photos and videos posted on the L214 site were taken "a few days ago" in August, after a "whistleblower" was reported. They depict "the worst breeding that we have had the opportunity to see since the beginnings of L214" in 2008, affirmed Sébastien Arsac, director of investigations of the association.

The situation there seems "totally out of control" and the breeding must "close urgently", according to the association which says it hopes "at least a ban on exercising a breeding activity" against those responsible. The management of the breeding and the adjoining hatchery could not be contacted by AFP.

Complaint filed for "cruelty to animals"

A complaint was filed Wednesday by the lawyer of L214 in the court of Pau for "cruelty to animals", "abandonment", and "damage to the environment", because of the risks incurred by the Saison, a close course of water, because of the droppings flowing from the building. L214 alerted the Central Office for the Fight against Attacks on the Environment and Public Health (OCLAESP).

L214, which is hostile to the consumption of animal products, and especially those from intensive breeding, has already targeted farms in the foie gras sector, at the end of 2019 in particular the hatchery of an agricultural high school in Périgueux.

In the light of these examples, L214 wonders about the inspections in the foie gras sector and asks the Minister of Agriculture Julien Denormandie "to conduct an audit of all breeding duck farms and hatcheries in the foie gras sector. ", And" publish the full inspection reports, as Stéphane le Foll did in 2016 concerning slaughterhouses of slaughter animals ".

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  • Aquitaine
  • Animal cruelty
  • Agriculture
  • Animals
  • Society
  • L214