SALEM — At Hurley's restaurant in hip Northwest Portland, foie gras isn't anywhere on the menu.

But servers will tell you of at least three ways the fattened duck liver delicacy is served, including chef and owner Tom Hurley's signature savory foie gras flan with wild mushrooms.

Hurley's is among several Portland restaurants that have removed foie gras from their menus because of protests by animal rights activists. The activists would gather outside the restaurants with gruesome images of dead and diseased ducks they say are the result of inhumane force-feeding techniques used to produce foie gras, or "fatty liver."

While Hurley's is still serving foie gras, pronounced "fwah grah," protesters have succeeded in persuading some Portland restaurant kitchens to cancel their orders.

At issue is the way the birds are fed: For the final two weeks of their lives, a stainless steel tube is inserted into their throats twice a day and a measured amount of partially cooked corn is pumped down the esophagus.

The technique packs on the pounds quickly, re-creating the fatty liver that ancient Egyptians found that birds naturally developed before migrating.

Opponents say the practice should be outlawed, and persuaded the California Legislature in 2004 to pass a bill that will ban foie gras in 2012 unless producers can prove the technique is humane.

Legislation is being considered in Oregon, New York, Illinois and Massachusetts that would make it a criminal act even to possess the delicacy.

In Oregon, the Senate Environment and Land Use Committee plans to hold a public hearing on the bill in the next few weeks.

Foie gras fanatics say the protesters — and now legislators — are clueless, and scoff at the idea that birds whose livers alone are worth $75 a pound are mistreated.

But Gene Bauston, co-founder of the animal rights group Farm Sanctuary, says the pictures and videos of foie gras farms show force-feeding is a "cruel and unnecessary practice" that shouldn't be legal.

"There are certain things that are beyond the bounds of acceptable ... and force-feeding birds for this fatty liver is one of those things," Bauston said.

Bauston said the ducks' livers swell to 10 times their normal size as a result of the force feeding, which he says can also cause cuts and damage to the esophagus and bacterial and fungal growth in the birds' digestive tracts as the ducks' bodies struggles to digest the increased amount of food.

On top of that, said Matt Rossell, who works with the group In Defense of Animals in Portland, is the degree to which the ducks are fattened.

"At the center of this debate is how sick and ill and crippled and just debilitated these animals are," Rossell said.

"There's no way that anyone can look at the intense factory farm process of foie gras and in any way compare it to an animal that eats some extra food for migrating."

But Francine Bradley, a poultry specialist with the University of California Cooperative Extension Service, said foie gras farms simply take advantage of ducks' natural ability to store a large amount of fat. She said that is shown by the fact that birds will return to a normal size if the high-calorie diet is stopped.

Bradley has worked extensively with California's Sonoma Foie Gras, one of only three producers in the nation, and defends the production practice.

"Ducks will swallow an entire fish or a frog. Their esophagus is very elastic so it can allow for the passage of these large food items," Bradley said.

Bradley added that, in her many visits to Sonoma Foie Gras, she hasn't seen signs of discomfort when the ducks are fed.

She said owner Guillermo Gonzales and family have been victimized because they're "viewed as very easy targets for the environmental community."

Hurley, who also has visited Gonzales' farm, agrees.

Animal rights activists "know they have absolutely no chance of making an impact (on large beef and poultry producers), so they go after something like foie gras," Hurley said.

Pascal Sauton has added foie gras to his Portland restaurant, Carafe, in defiance of the protesters.

"They come and attack a cause that seems very easy for them to attack," Sauton said.

Sauton and other Portland chefs said they will consider testifying in Salem when the bill comes up for a hearing.

The bill could pass the Senate Environment and Land Use Committee, and Chairman Charlie Ringo, D-Beaverton, has indicated he supports the bill.

It will face tough opposition in the Republican-controlled House, however, along with lobbying from farm groups, who consider the bill a way to chip away at the practice of raising animals for food.

Meanwhile, Sonoma Foie Gras owner Guillermo Gonzales is focused on clearing the industry that drew him to the United States.

"I am hopeful that the legislators will realize that this is only the tip of the iceberg," Gonzales said, "and that their decision is crucial to the future of animal agriculture in general."