The Pet Duck Helping the Effort to Ban Foie Gras in D.C.

Several D.C. restaurants serve foie gras, a French delicacy that comes from the livers of ducks and geese that have been fattened up.

Meghan Abrego at Eastern Market alongside her duck, Olivia Gray.

Meghan Abrego and her duck, Olivia Gray, at Eastern Market. Kainaz Amaria/NOTUS

For being involved in a political campaign, Olivia Gray isn’t one for words. But when she does make noise, it has the sound of a familiar refrain: Quack, quack, quack.

“She doesn’t have a voice that’s English-speaking, so I have to be her translator,” said Meghan Abrego, her owner. “We’re just trying to save her friends.”

One could forgive Olivia for not saying anything – she is a duck, after all. But her presence at Eastern Market on a recent Sunday played an important role in the effort to implement one of the quirkier ballot initiatives in recent D.C. memory.