Pictured: A baby turkey
45 million turkeys are served for Thanksgiving every year.
What are turkeys like?
Joe Hutto, who closely observed a flock of two dozen turkeys for a year, wrote in his book, ILLUMINATIONS IN THE FLATWOODS:
"I have never kept better company or know of more fulfilling companionship. As I leave the confines of my language and culture, these graceful creatures become in every way my superiors. More alert, sensitive, and aware, they are vastly more conscious than I. Theirs is an intricate aptitude, a clear distillation of purpose and design that is beyond my ability to comprehend. "
Dr. Ian Duncan, poultry expert at the University of Guelph, states:
"Turkeys possess marked intelligence as revealed by such behavioral indices as their complex social relationships, and their many different methods of communicating with each other, both visual and vocal."
Turkeys and other birds (chickens, ducks, geese) are not protected by The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, a federal mandate. As a result, abuse is rampant in factory farms, where most turkeys are raised for food in the US. An undercover animal advocate observed repeated incidents of turkeys at factory farms being punched, jumped on, thrown, shaken, swung around in the air, and slammed into walls. He witnessed turkeys being stomped on until their skulls exploded. Turkeys that accidentally fell underneath delivery trucks were deliberately crushed when the trucks pulled out. A worker was heard saying, "Animal rights activists don't like it when you kick a turkey. Animals have more rights than people nowadays. Don't worry if you hear a popping sound while working. It's just a bird exploding under the tire of a truck."
Turkeys spend their lives tightly squeezed together in dark sheds, standing on layers of excrement. When they are only a few hours old, the tips of their beaks and the first joint of each toe are cut off without anesthesia.
Once it's time for slaughter, they are hung upside down by their legs (which often break in the process) to have their throats slit and then they are dunked into scalding hot tanks to remove their feathers. The kill line moves so fast that many turkeys don't have their throats completely slit and end up being dunked alive into the boiling water. A worker at Butterball admitted that he hears birds screaming constantly as they are scalded to death.
Abuse at Butterball can be seen at www.ButterballCruelty.com
2 comments:
I saw where you were going and stopped reading. I can't get any more of those visuals in my head or I'll go into a depression, but I promise not to eat turkeys anymore. I never ate them much anyway.
Andrea, this article about Turkey Abuse is a wakeup call for people at Thanksgiving. Thanks for writing, and for this important Blog. I don't think everyone will give up their Turkeys when they read this, but they may want to stop rewarding factory farms by getting Turkeys that are treated more humanely, organically etc. So the question is how/where? On the other hand, if you don't have the "stomach" to write about non-factory farm animal choices at supermarkets, I totally understand. Thanks again.
Warm Regards, Rob
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