Former Bond star Roger Moore has used his influence to help get a licence to kill millions of geese withdrawn from a massive British-backed foie gras factory farm in China.
British company Creek Projects Investments Ltd was to have funded the £10m project to build one of the world's biggest facilities producing the luxury liver pate.
The facility in China's Jiangxi Province would have seen eight million ducks and two million geese slaughtered every year to produce 1,000 tonnes of foie gras.
Production of the delicacy involves force-feeding birds by placing a tube down their throats and pumping large amounts of food directly into their stomachs, causing the liver to become enlarged by up to 10 times its normal size.
Foie gras force-feeding is outlawed in the UK, although the product is still available from fine food specialists and in restaurants.
Sir Roger gave his full support to the campaign against the factory farm, which was backed by animal welfare charities including the Humane Society International (HSI), Compassion in World Farming, and the RSPCA.
The actor called on the Chinese authorities to halt all foie gras production, saying in a petition letter: "Foie gras is sold as a luxury product but there is nothing luxurious about animal cruelty.
"Force-feeding geese massive quantities of food by ramming a metal tube down their throat until their livers become obese, is quite rightly banned in Britain. So I am utterly appalled that a British company would fund this cruelty in China.
"I urge the Chinese authorities to show compassion and kindness by shutting down foie gras production in China altogether. In a modern society, there is no place for this extreme animal cruelty."
Creek Projects announced on its website in April that the foie gras operation had been suspended as a result of "concerns from the public", and the company's directors called for a review "to include input from animal welfare and environmental experts to address any issues which may or may not exist".
Animal welfare campaigners said they had received confirmation from China that the construction will not go ahead - a decision which comes after months of appeals and petitions in the UK and China.
A spokesperson for HSI said the project was "definitely not going ahead" and that its representatives in China had learned that the Creek Projects facility had been abandoned.
Confirmation came in a radio broadcast on China's Central People's Broadcasting Station, quoting a local government official.
In June, campaigners sent a petition letter to local officials in Jianxi Province in China, co-signed by a number of organisations and including a message from Sir Roger. Appeals were also sent to the Chinese embassy in London, and the headquarters of Creek Projects Investments in Huntingdon.
