Foie gras: Video shows ducklings mutilated and killed at farm in France

Only the livers of the males are used to make the pate, so the females are thrown in to a meat crusher before being disposed of

Ducklings have their beaks ripped off by white hot metal and are crushed alive at a French foie gras factory, in secretly filmed footage released by activists.

The video, made by protest group L214, shows the mutilation and killing of the day-old birds at a farm in Pays-de-la-Loire, France, where 30,000 ducks are born each week.

Since only the livers of the males are used to make the pate, the females are thrown in to a meat crusher before being disposed of.

The footage shows some of the ducklings surviving the process, with some still moving their legs before being funnelled in to a bin to die.

According to the protest group, between 6,000 and 7,000 ducklings are killed this way every day at the farm.

L241's spokesperson Sébastien Arsac told The Independent: "People's attitudes in France are changing.

"Today, 33 per cent of people don't buy foie gras for ethical reasons and 51 percent are against force-feeding.

“But there's still a long way to go. Even if people don't eat it themselves, it’s often the family staple at Christmas".

In the footage, the male ducklings are vaccinated before being placed in a rotating wheel where metal blades heated by flames slice off their beaks every 15 seconds, a measure taken to prevent them from pecking at each other in the battery conditions.

Once this is done, the male ducklings are sold on to foie-gras farms to be reared, killed and made in to pate.

According to L214, typically they are kept inside for 40 days, and outside for another 40, before the force-feeding program begins.

The group says that over the course of 12 days, the birds are fed twice daily through a 20-cm metal tube inserted down their throats.

The quantities of corn they are fed are increased and according to L214, by the 12th day they are force-fed a kilogram for each meal - a fifth of their body weight.

These production methods are illegal in all but 5 EU countries - including the UK - and France is responsible for three quarters of its global production - producing 18,000 tonnes last year alone.

L241 has launched a petition to ban the crushing of the female ducklings – attracting nearly 30,000 signatures within a day.