GAIA releases new footage of force-feeding in Wallonia and denounces political support for a cruel practice

GAIA action

14 April 2026

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New footage filmed in March 2026 on a farm in Wallonia is being released today. It shows ducks being kept in alarming conditions and brutally force-fed. Even more shocking: while force-feeding is banned in Brussels and Flanders, Wallonia continues to support this sector.

GAIA today releases new footage filmed in March 2026 at a duck farm in Florennes, in the province of Namur. Once again, the images expose the cruel reality of force-feeding for foie gras production in Wallonia, the last Belgian region where this practice is still allowed. Each year, nearly 25,000 ducks are still force-fed on the seven Walloon farms active in this production. The footage released by GAIA from Ferme de la Sauvenière, which presents itself as “animal-friendly”, shows a very different reality.

Alarming living conditions

The videos show nearly 400 ducks confined in cramped cages, on slatted floors, inside a shed with no access to the outdoors and mostly kept in darkness. Dead animals lie on the ground next to live ducks, some of them injured. During force-feeding, the ducks are handled brutally.

For GAIA, these images illustrate the cruelty inherent in foie gras production. And this is not the first time. Back in 2021, our association had already released damning footage, including from this very same farm.

At the time, no concrete measures were taken to put an end to the practices exposed.

A sector supported by the Walloon authorities

Beyond the images themselves, another element is deeply concerning: Wallonia is not merely maintaining this production, it is also helping to expand it.

GAIA denounces the organisation of an official training course aimed at training force-feeders and strengthening the foie gras sector, with the support of Walloon Minister for Animal Welfare Adrien Dolimont (MR). Announced in July 2025 as part of his Strategy for Animal Welfare, this training took place in early April 2026, at the initiative of the Collège des Producteurs and with the approval of the Walloon Region. Even more disturbing, it was held on the very farm where the footage released by GAIA was filmed.

Shocking remarks

The comments made during this training course trivialise the animal suffering caused by force-feeding. Some speakers reportedly explained how to downplay, in the eyes of consumers, the impact of this practice on animal welfare.

One speaker stated that “nothing prevents you from slaughtering an animal” and joked that dislocation of the spine would never actually be carried out by a veterinarian, even though this is a legal requirement, while adding that another trainer “reads the regulations too much.”

Training force-feeders in 2026 with the support of the authorities, while this practice is banned elsewhere in Belgium and in most European countries, is simply unacceptable. Encouraging participants to avoid inspections and disregard animal welfare legislation is outrageous. Instead of fighting animal cruelty, the Walloon Minister for Animal Welfare is helping to organise it.

Michel Vandenbosch

GAIA's president

Foie gras: a disease

Foie gras is produced by forcing ducks to ingest large quantities of maize mash until it causes a liver disease known as fatty liver disease. Their liver can grow to up to ten times its normal size. The animals struggle to move, suffer from breathing difficulties, and during this period mortality is 10 to 20 times higher than on farms where no force-feeding takes place.

An increasingly isolated practice

In Belgium, the Brussels-Capital Region banned force-feeding in 2017, followed by Flanders in 2018. Wallonia is now the only region in the country still allowing it.

In Europe, only five countries still produce foie gras: France, Spain, Bulgaria, Hungary and, in Belgium, Wallonia. Everywhere else, force-feeding is banned either explicitly or in practice.

Ban force-feeding

In light of these findings, GAIA is calling on the Walloon Government to ban force-feeding, end all public support for the foie gras sector, and bring Wallonia into line with the other Belgian regions as well as with the majority of European countries.

Lastly, GAIA points out that public opinion is overwhelmingly in favour of a ban: according to an Ipsos poll commissioned by GAIA in 2024, 80% of people in Wallonia support banning force-feeding for foie gras production.