all groups suing Sonoma Foie Gras support SB1520

[Guest guest]

Rose,

Groups including the ASPCA have been trying to get an attorney general

opinion in both California and NY for the past 20 years against force

feeding and have simply been ignored. This is the last year a bill

against force feeding is possible since many of the key legislators are

being term limited out. It will be a lot easier to stop the law from

being changed to allow force feeding after the phaseout than it will be

to try to get new legislation banning foie gras sooner, which will be

impossible.

Sonoma Foie Gras supports the bill with amendments simply because it will

save them money and they think they can overturn the law later on. Let's

not let that happen. There are other ways to cost them money (like

educating people about foie gras), and this bill sets an important

precedent. The legislators sponsoring the bill in NY are very excited to

see this pass b/c it gives them leverage for getting the bill passed

there against the much larger foie gras farm. Sonoma Foie Gras is small.

This bill may benefit them in the short term, but it prevents larger foie

gras farms from opening up here, which has been on the radar.

The reason the Animal Protection and Rescue League and In Defense of

Animals support SB1520, the bill to ban foie gras, even though it gets

rid of our anti-cruelty lawsuit is that we believe the bill is better for

the animals, even with the amendments. Courts have never held general

animal cruelty laws to apply to standard industry practices, and there is

no reason to think they would in this case. Doesn't mean we weren't going

to try, but now that there is this bill that would specifically ban the

production and sale of foie gras, that can't be beat. Also, bills

doing away with an industry pretty much always come with

phaseouts.

In the meantime, we need to keep on educating consumers and restaurants

more than ever as to why foie gras is cruel and should be avoided. But as

far as laws and courts go, SB1520 is the best shot we have at banning

this industry for good. Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Bryan Pease

StopForceFeeding.com

[Guest guest]

I hope everyone takes the time to consider the points made below in Bryan Pease's thoughtful e-mail.

 

Rose is concerned by the fact that the Sonoma foie gras producer has, apparently, shown support for the bill. The bill has been amended several times, however, and the most recent amendments made the bill better for the birds and worse for the producer (I sent an e-mail describing these amendments several weeks ago; let me know if you want me to forward that to you). I'm not sure that the producer continues to support the bill with the most recent amendments. Even if he does, however, it means he's getting bad advice, not that the bill will actually work in his favor. Don't let his confusion about what this bill will do confuse you too!

 

No court is going to rule that force feeding violates any law if SB 1520 does not become law. Instead, a court will reason that the Legislature tried to make force feeding illegal, but didn't succeed in doing so because the Governor vetoed it. Thus, the court will say, force feeding must not be illegal (or why would the Legislature have needed to enact a law to make it so?). The very fact that factory farming of all farm animals is so prevalent in our society should be proof enough that courts won't do anything about this type of cruelty until legislatures explicitly make it illegal, as SB 1520 will do.

 

Finally, let me just say that I'm speaking as a vegan, public interest attorney. When this issue first came up, before speaking out about it, I talked with several other public interest attorneys, whose opinions I very much respect, and (unfortunately) everyone agreed that only with SB 1520 will a court rule that force feeding is illegal. So, while things may looking confusing as a political matter in Sacramento, as a legal matter, this bill is better than what we have now -- no law prohibiting either force feeding or sale of foie gras, now or in the future.

 

If anyone wants to talk about any of this with me, just send me a personal e-mail.

 

Thanks!

Thea

 

"StopForceFeeding.com" <alerts wrote:

Rose,Groups including the ASPCA have been trying to get an attorney general opinion in both California and NY for the past 20 years against force feeding and have simply been ignored. This is the last year a bill against force feeding is possible since many of the key legislators are being term limited out. It will be a lot easier to stop the law from being changed to allow force feeding after the phaseout than it will be to try to get new legislation banning foie gras sooner, which will be impossible.Sonoma Foie Gras supports the bill with amendments simply because it will save them money and they think they can overturn the law later on. Let's not let that happen. There are other ways to cost them money (like educating people about foie gras), and this bill sets an important precedent. The legislators sponsoring the bill in NY are very excited to see this pass b/c it

gives them leverage for getting the bill passed there against the much larger foie gras farm. Sonoma Foie Gras is small. This bill may benefit them in the short term, but it prevents larger foie gras farms from opening up here, which has been on the radar.The reason the Animal Protection and Rescue League and In Defense of Animals support SB1520, the bill to ban foie gras, even though it gets rid of our anti-cruelty lawsuit is that we believe the bill is better for the animals, even with the amendments. Courts have never held general animal cruelty laws to apply to standard industry practices, and there is no reason to think they would in this case. Doesn't mean we weren't going to try, but now that there is this bill that would specifically ban the production and sale of foie gras, that can't be beat. Also, bills doing away with an industry pretty much always come with phaseouts.In the meantime, we need to keep on educating consumers and restaurants more than

ever as to why foie gras is cruel and should be avoided. But as far as laws and courts go, SB1520 is the best shot we have at banning this industry for good. Hope this helps.Sincerely,Bryan PeaseStopForceFeeding.comBAY AREA VEGETARIANS (BAV) is a community group for veggies to network & find support. Event Calendar, Charter, FAQ and More!http://www.bayareaveg.org/Bookmark this page! Don't miss local events!http://www.bayareaveg.org/events.php

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