Whistleblower secretly filmed conditions at the Domaine de la Peyrouse factory

Female ducklings are tossed alive into vast bins and left to starve or suffocate

The males have their beaks mutilated before being force-fed for 12 days

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT

Gruesome footage from a French foie gras factory shows thousands of ducklings being thrown into bins and left to starve or suffocate to death.

Others have their beaks and claws mutilated before being force-fed in tiny cages to fatten their livers to make the expensive delicacy.

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The footage was secretly filmed by a whistleblower at the award-winning Domaine de la Peyrouse factory in Coulounieix-Chamiers, on the outskirts of the Dordogne capital Perigueux.

A whistleblower secretly filmed thousands of ducklings being tossed in giant wheelie bins and left to starve or suffocate at Domaine de la Peyrouse factory in Dordogne

The footage was released by French animal rights organisation L214 which has called for foie gras production to be banned in France.

The distressing footage shows female ducklings, which can't be used to make foie gras, being callously discarded and thrown alive into large wheelie bins and left to die.

Eggs that are thrown away often hatch in the bins but the ducklings are left to perish. Most either suffocate or starve to death.

Male ducklings have their beaks mutilated by a machine 'to limit injuries between birds'

The male ducklings are force-fed when they are a few weeks old by inserting pipes down their throats before being slaughtered

The factory is also a training facility connected to the Lycee Agricole de Perigueux - an agricultural high school that teaches students how to produce foie gras

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The male ducklings are force-fed by inserting pipes down their throats before being slaughtered.

L214 spokesperson Barbara Boyer said the males have their heads jammed into a machine that 'mutilates them by burning the end of their beaks, in order to limit injuries between birds.'

She added: 'The forced cohabitation of hundreds or thousands of animals in most farms promotes aggressive behaviour.

'But instead of limiting the number of animals on the farms, people in the industry mutilate them by removing their claws and the tip of the beak.'

Female ducklings, which can't be used to make foie gras, are callously thrown away and left to die

Ducklings have their heads jammed into a machine before the end of their beaks are burnt off

She said the animals are force-fed for 10 to 12 days, a process that causes them to gasp for breath and gives them diarrhea.

The birds' livers may become 6 to 10 times the normal size and stop working properly.

Before they are slaughtered they are stunned by being dunked in electrified water.

They are then bled to death and have their livers removed.

Eggs that were thrown away often hatch in the bins where the ducklings are left to perish

The male ducklings are force-fed for 10 to 12 days before being slaughtered

But the footage shows that some regain consciousness during the gruesome process and suffer an agonising death.

The factory is also a training facility connected to the Lycee Agricole de Perigueux - an agricultural high school that teaches students how to produce foie gras.

It has won prestigious awards including the 'Origine Certifiee Perigord' and a gold medal at the Concours General Agricole in 2019, a competition established in 1870 by the French government.

Foie gras production is banned in the UK due to strict animal welfare laws but the RSPCA has called for imports to be banned as well.

An RSPCA spokesperson told Mailonline: 'The practice of force-feeding ducks or geese to produce traditional foie gras from their livers is considered cruel by the RSPCA, and our laws essentially prohibit it from being produced in the UK.

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'In addition, we would like to see an end to imports of foie gras; 180 to 200 tons of foie gras are still brought in from mainland Europe each year.

'We strongly believe that if the method of making a product is so unacceptable that producing it here is banned, then importing that product from another country should be illegal too.

'Brexit provides such an opportunity as most foie gras is produced in the EU which has no laws aimed at protecting the welfare of animals producing it.

'An RSPCA poll from 2018 supports our view, with two thirds of people wanting a post-Brexit ban on the import of animal products that are illegal to produce in the UK.'