FERNDALE, N.Y. — The case of the People of the State of New York against Amber Canavan touches on a variety of issues: animal rights, food culture and tradition, and the advisability of posting online videos of yourself on other people’s property. But at its heart, the central matter in the case — currently percolating in Sullivan County — is this: Did Ms. Canavan steal a pair of ducks?

This much is known: One late night in 2011, Ms. Canavan went to the headquarters of Hudson Valley Foie Gras in Ferndale, a tiny Catskills town some 100 miles northwest of Manhattan. The company is the nation’s largest producer of fatty duck liver — the aforementioned foie gras — revered as a delicacy by some gourmands.

But foie gras is a controversial dish, considered downright cruel by animal-rights activists who object to the force-feeding of the birds, a process known as gavage, used to enlarge the animal’s liver.

So it was that Ms. Canavan, an animal lover, had gone to Hudson Valley Foie Gras, entered one of the company’s barns and filmed the birds, one of several videos that were spliced together and posted on the website of the Animal Protection and Rescue League.