Geese farmed for meat and foie gras face welfare challenges that receive limited public and regulatory attention despite significant problems including force-feeding and denial of water access.
Goose welfare suffers from even lower public profile than duck welfare, despite the additional severe welfare problem of foie gras production. Force-feeding for foie gras involves repeated tube insertion into the oesophagus to deposit far more food than geese would voluntarily consume, causing the liver to enlarge to ten times its normal size. The procedure causes aversion, physical injury, and metabolic disruption. It is banned in many countries but production and import from producing countries continues in many jurisdictions. Outside foie gras, the denial of water access in conventional goose farming represents the same fundamental welfare deficit as in duck farming. Geese are highly motivated to access water and show clear distress when denied it. Their social complexity and pair bonding also mean that social disruption causes welfare costs comparable to other socially sophisticated species.