I know it comes from a goose, but before I buy a new down sleeping bag, I’d like to know how they get so much of it.
Do they kill millions of geese just to support the down industry? We dont eat them, so there arent millions of dead ones anyway.
I have a hunch it comes from something they are doing in Asia that I dont want to know about…
Geese aren’t eaten as commonly as, say, chicken, but I’m pretty sure people do eat them.
Goose is eaten in many places in the world. I’m certain they aren’t just harvesting down and tossing the geese away.
Here’s an anti-down site: http://www.poultry.org/down_article.htm
It opposes oppression of poultry in general, but vents its spleen here at the unthinking hordes who wear down jackets.
They’re not too keen on pate de foi gras either.
Foie gras is goose liver, so there are loads of geese required for that.
Goose itself is really good, too, and eaten in many places in the world, as has been said.
I know that eider geese are supposed to be the best geese for down, but I’m sure feathers from eating geese can used and correctly labelled as such.
Eider down is obtained by gathering down from the nests, which is why it is so expensive. The female lines the nest with her own down to insulate the eggs and chicks. If the down is removed before laying, the female will reline the nest before laying. Rather annoying to the birds I’m sure, but rather less so than being killed and plucked.
http://www.spaceforspecies.ca/todays_challenge/you_asked_us/
Is that so? I never knew that. Thanks,** Colibri**
All hail the SDMB!
You’d think that a group called poultry.org would have less of a PETA slant.
Nah, it didn’t surprise me. Now, if it had been poultry.com, then I’d expect a pro-poultry production/consumption slant.
I can’t find an actual poultry.com, or a poultry.edu website.
I’m afraid to try poultry.xxx
Small point but Eiders are ducks not geese.
My grandmother plucked the goosedown from the geese’s breasts without killing them. I have goosedown comforters that contain goosedown that dates from the 1930’s.
PETA reports that this is a cruel practice but you have to consider the source. YMMV.
Much of the world’s down supply come from China where they eat a great deal of poultry.
Uh, we eat geese in the USA. They’re yummy. People actually hunt these things, and they’re a bit meatier than, say, quail (which we also eat and are yummy).