Viva! - Vegetarians International Voice for Animals

Part Ten

Viva! campaign - Ducks Out of Water

During our long-running campaign to highlight the suffering of factory farmed ducks Viva! investigators have visited almost all the major producers in Britain. In one unit, where we filmed this year, we saw thousands of adorable, yellow fluffy ducklings - but without their mothers to protect them, to teach them how to swim, what to eat, how to preen. In these places no one cares.

Viva! has reinvigorated its national campaign to expose how ducks are reared for meat. Almost all duck meat comes from factory-farmed birds. Our footage shows they are crammed into huge sheds on concrete and given dry pelleted food. These are largely aquatic animals

- they are meant to eat, swim, dive, clean and play in water - and yet they never see it, except in their drinkers.

Viva! Victory

Their beak has a rich supply of nerves and is very sensitive. And yet in factory farms, to stop birds pulling at each other's feathers, the end of their beak was cut off with a hot blade. This process causes extreme pain. Throughout 2000, Viva! vigorously campaigned to end debeaking - and won! We focused our campaign on the six supermarket chains that sold meat from debeaked birds - and one by one they agreed to stop debeaking ducks. In addition, Harrods withdrew all its factory farmed duck meat due to 'Viva!'s well researched campaign'.

The campaign today In 2004, Viva! won a major victory when Marks & Spencer announced they would clear their shelves of factory-farmed whole duck after we exposed the conditions at their supplier.

However, the campaign continues. Viva!'s aim to end the factory farming for ducks is more urgent now than it ever has been. In the UK, in 2004, 18 million ducks were slaughtered - nearly all of them raised in intensive units. Yet most people still do not know that ducks are factory farmed.

Viva! has had meetings with nearly all the major supermarket chains, including Marks & Spencer, the Co-op, Sainsbury's and Asda, to discuss their plans for improving the welfare of ducks raised for meat in the UK.

In 2005, Viva! exposed the conditions at the duck meat suppliers of the Co-op, and with over 200 regional demos demanded that this store - which prides itself on its ethics - clears its shelves of factory-farmed duck meat.

Duck farming must be stopped. No one has exposed the horrors of duck farming or slaughter before Viva!'s campaign - and we will continue to do so.