Last Foie Gras Farm in Ukraine Shuts Down.

Following an international Open Cages campaign, poultry company MHP has this week announced end of operations on the last official foie gras farm in Ukraine. This means that as of September, the country will have ceased all foie gras production.

Last April, Open Cages published an undercover investigation from the Ukrainian foie gras farm in The Independent. The shocking footage, taken by an undercover worker and given to our Ukrainian team, shows metal feeding pipes lubricated with engine oil being shoved down the poor birds’ throats. In addition to coverage by national UK newspapers, the investigation got millions of views online and was covered by news outlets in over 10 other countries.

Following the international controversy and Open Cages’ outreach, multiple high end UK restaurants swiftly dropped foie gras from their menus. These include the Michelin-star Number One at The Balmoral and “Scotland’s most famous restaurant” The Witchery by the Castle, both in Edinburgh. Finally, the pressure became to much to handle for MHP, who said that “the production of foie gras is not consistent with the Company’s strategy and policy of being a global leader in E&S and Animal Welfare”.

In a story by LiveKindly, Open Cages CEO Connor Jackson commented, “it’s hard to believe that foie gras even exists. Force-feeding animals until their liver swells 10 times bigger is simply barbaric, and the product’s ‘luxury’ label is almost laughable.”

He continued, “we are absolutely thrilled to see this company choose to stand against needless suffering by shutting down. Any UK restaurants still serving foie gras will be taking a hard look in the mirror: animal cruelty is bad business.”

Any UK restaurants still serving foie gras will be taking a hard look in the mirror: animal cruelty is bad business.

While we at Open Cages are immensely proud of this victory, we want to remind you that this could never have happened without your help. Without your donations, feedback to restaurants, shares and comments on social media, and deep compassion towards animals, our foie gras campaign would be in vain.

We will continue to need you on our side. If you can, please consider making a donation to help us keep up our ground-breaking work. Your help will allow us to continue reaching out to politicians, journalists, restauranteurs, and the public to make foie gras history.

The next step is to make the Government ban the imports and sale of foie gras in the UK. Together, we can do it.