Ducks are semi-aquatic birds with strong biological drives to access open water, creating fundamental welfare challenges in intensive farming systems that deny them this basic behavioral need.
Ducks deprived of open water for bathing show persistent, intense motivation to access it - a behavioral indicator of significant welfare compromise. Their eyes and nostrils require water for proper hygiene; birds without it develop eye infections and respiratory issues. The inability to express species-typical behaviors including swimming, foraging, and vigorous preening represents a fundamental deprivation. Foie gras production adds the acute suffering of force-feeding to these baseline deprivations. Despite the scale of duck production - billions of birds annually - welfare standards and research attention lag far behind that applied to chickens.