Late one night in 2011, Amber Canavan snuck onto a Foie Gras farm in the southern Catskills. Video camera in hand, she recorded what she saw and provided it to the Animal Protection and Rescue League, which published some of it in a video.
The narrator says, "This hidden camera footage, taken in late 2011, shows workers force-feeding ducks at Hudson Valley Foie Gras in New York. These ducks are clearly cowering in the corner of their pen."
Foie Gras is a controversial culinary delicacy. The pate is made from fattened duck liver. The birds are often overfed to plump them up. Animal rights groups say it’s cruel.
The footage Canavan captured was used as part of a lawsuit against Hudson Valley Foie Gras, which she signed her name to. Nearly four years later, there’s one part of that video that has her facing possible prison time.
"The investigators were able to rescue a few ducks from the torture of Foie Gras in both New York and California," the video states. It shows Canavan handling a duck and the it shows ducks in a different video clip from another farm being placed into a bin.
The farm turned the video over to law enforcement, saying ducks were missing.
The local district attorney did not return a phone call, but he writes in the indictment that Canavan did enter the farm and steal two ducks, "while having no permission or authority to do so." Canavan says she can’t comment on the whereabouts of those ducks.
"These charges aren’t because they’re missing two ducks, ducks die on that farm every day," Canavan said. "They’re coming after me because it damaged their credibility and it contradicted their narrative that they’re a cage-free artisanal facility."
Canavan says the prosecutor is trying to bully her. The Animal Protection and Rescue League is providing her with free legal counsel. "If anything, all the attention that’s going to put on me can hopefully be turned towards helping the ducks that are still there," Canavan said.
The farm’s operations manager, Marcus Henley, spoke at length with WRVO News about the incident, but was not willing to be quoted.
Hudson Valley Fois Gras is one of the country’s largest producers of fatty duck liver. It has a stock about 115,000 fowl. Henley says the farm goes above the industry standard for animal care and the feeding procedure, called gavage, is not uncomfortable for the birds. And if you want to see for yourself, he says the farm offers tours.
Henley says Canavan acted recklessly by sneaking into the farm after hours. He says with a livestock population equivalent to a mid-size city, it’s not uncommon for there to be a dead bird or two. He says to show that in a short video is out of context.
The farm is their livelihood, Henley said, and he’s not going to turn his cheek to someone he calls a thief.
Canavan is finishing up graduate school at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. She’s still hoping to graduate this spring, before going to trial.
