The Chicago City council voted yesterday to overturn its two-year ban on foie gras. The foie gras ban had been tauted as a big victory for animal rights activists, so what does this current decision mean?

I don’t really think it means much of anything, to be honest. Well, it means that thousands of waterfowl will once again be subjected to violent force-feeding and engorgement simply for the gastronomic delight of a select group of people. But I don’t think it means much in the grand scheme of the animal rights movement.

Backlashes to victories are expected. If the victory were an easy one, it would not have been tauted as ground-breaking. But it was ground-breaking, which also meant that we woke up some of the opposition that had become quite comfortable after so many years of fattening up on the unhealthy liver of others.

Ultimately, however, we can still claim victory. Numerous people in Chicago and around the country became aware of the issue of cruelty inherent in foie gras production as a result of the initial victory in Chicago. That awareness is the beginning of a cultural shift. That is ground that anti-animal activists and their friends in the food sciences have lost and will likely never get back. The victory banning foie gras will be won again. And next time it will have the popular support and cultural outrage that will result in its everlasting reign.

If there is one thing I’ve learned over the past decade, its that animal rights activists don’t give up very easily.While chefs claim this as a victory for themselves and fine dining enthusiasts, civilizations continue to move along a slow path of increasing compassion. The cruelty of force-feeding an animals in order to produce an enlarged liver cannot and will not be ignored. Fifteen other countries have already banned the practice.

You can read the story from AFP at urltea.com/37m1