Commercial duck farming denies access to water for bathing and swimming, preventing expression of fundamental natural behaviors. Water deprivation causes chronic welfare harm to billions of ducks farmed for meat and foie gras.
Duck water access is a clear-cut welfare issue where the behavioral need of the animal and the economic convenience of producers are in direct conflict. Ducks without water access spend time performing vacuum swimming behaviors - going through swimming motions on dry ground - demonstrating the strength of the behavioral drive. This represents an easily measurable welfare deficit with a straightforward solution: provision of swim ponds, shallow water containers, or misters providing sufficient water for bathing. The regulatory approach taken by the UK - requiring water for bathing behaviors - represents a minimum welfare standard that should be universal. Foie gras production causing force-feeding-induced liver disease is banned in a growing number of jurisdictions but the product continues to be imported by many countries that do not produce it domestically.