Oceania Cruises On Board With Cruel Foie Gras

by Annie Hartnett · 2011-03-02 08:49:00 UTC
Topics:

Oceania Cruises has recently debuted a new ship, the Marina, in their four ship fleet. The line's 1,250-passenger Marina is basically the horror movie version of Noah's Ark, as nearly every animal in existence is served onboard. The ship's extensive menu includes: beef, veal, lamb, roast chicken, free-range pork, frog legs, lobster, crabs, and many species of fish.

But what's really got my goat is the cruise line's insistence on serving several dishes that include duck foie gras. The cruel production methods of foie gras are well documented, and I'm dismayed that the cruise chefs would serve it.

The traditional French dish, which literally translates as "fatty liver," is made by force-feeding ducks and geese through a metal feeding tube in order to create a fatty, diseased liver. This process sometimes results in holes in a bird's sensitive neck, and the bird's engorged liver often becomes diseased. The birds are kept in filthy, crammed conditions while they wait to be force-fed.

More than 15 countries and the state of California have outlawed foie gras production. Oceania Cruises will make stops in many of the countries that frown on foie gras, as their fleet stops at over 330 ports in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and the Americas.

The Oceania Cruises website includes a statement of the company's values. But Oceania seems out to sea on their sense of "values," as the statement seems pretty amoral to me. The cruise line pledges to offer "the finest culinary experience at sea" in a "country club-casual like ambience." Gag me. Oh wait, I'm not a duck.

Oceania will debut the Marina's sister ship in April 2012. These two new ships will more than double Oceania's fleet capacity, meaning a ton of foie gras will be served on board the titanic ships. But if enough would-be cruisers tell the company to drop the duck poutine, Oceania might rethink their values by the time their second $600 million dollar ship is afloat. Luxury doesn't have to be cruel.

Sign our petition to ask Oceania Cruises to remove foie gras from the menu.

Photo Credit: Salicia

Annie Hartnett is a writer and animal advocate who has worked for several wildlife rehabilitation centers and environmental programs.

RELATED PETITION

Tell Oceania Cruises to Stop Serving Foie Gras
SIGN PETITION
616 People
PREVIOUS STORY:
Pig Business Takes Factory Farming Before Congress
NEXT STORY:
Petitions Delivered Around the World for Release of Indonesian Circus Dolphins

COMMENTS (0)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.