A decree prohibiting breeding animals for their fur and tube-feeding for foie gras production was unanimously approved by the Flemish parliament on Wednesday. The seventeen fur-bearing livestock farms listed in Flanders and the only producer of foie gras must close by 1 December 2023.
Tabled at Minister for Animal Welfare Ben Weyts’ (N-VA) initiative, the text makes provision for a transitional phase to allow companies to gradually dismantle their facilities, as well as a ten million euro total compensation plan, which will progressively decrease as of 2021.
Animal breeding for fur production was banned in recent years in the Walloon Region (2015) and the Brussels Region (2017) but was purely symbolic since there weren’t any such breeding farms in Wallonia or in Brussels.
Force-feeding is not banned in Wallonia. This technique refers to placing a long tube down the bird’s oesophagus and pumping an excessive quantity of food directly into the stomach, which provokes steatosis of the liver.
The Brussels Times
