Is there avoidance of the force feeding procedure in ducks and geese?

The debate on welfare issues related to the force feeding of ducks and gees e involves understanding the reactions of the animals to the force feeding process. Two types of experiment were performed. Ducks and geese were train ed to be fed in a pen 8 metres away from their rearing pen and were then fo rce fed in the feeding pen. The hypothesis was that if force feeding caused aversion, the animals would not spontaneously go to the test pen. There we re some signs of aversion in ducks, but not full avoidance, and there were no signs of aversion in geese. In another experiment, the flight distances of ducks from the person who performed the force feeding and from an unknow n observer were measured. Ducks avoided the unknown person more than the fo rce feeder. Their avoidance of the force feeder decreased during the force feeding period. There was no development of aversion to the force feeder du ring the force feeding process.