Ahh…Thanksgiving. A time to celebrate with family and friends, a time to take stock of our lives and give thanks for all that we have. A day of eating too much and falling asleep in front of the TV. The feasting starts as we gather around the table for a meal of…wait! What’s that! It’s the corpse of a dead bird you’ve got there on the table. An animal probably raised in such filthy conditions that it requires a call to the Poultry Hotline for cooking advice so your family doesn’t fall ill to salmonella. Is that really what we want as the centerpiece of a holiday meal: an animal’s dead body? Why not let the turkeys give thanks too?
So What Sort of Critters Are These Turkeys?
Domestic turkeys have little in common with their wild cousins. They don’t look like them, they can’t fly like they can, and they don’t live freely.
Wild turkeys are the only breed of poultry that is native to the Western Hemisphere. First domesticated in Mexico, they were brought to Europe by the Spaniards in the 16th century. At one time, wild turkeys covered the prairies in Oklahoma and Texas, just as passenger pigeons once clouded the skies. Fortunately for the turkey, they were not completely exterminated by hunting.
Domestic turkeys have been genetically modified to gain weight rapidly because fatter turkeys mean fatter wallets for farmers. But in nature, the slim and trim turkey’s athletic prowess is truly impressive. Wild turkeys can fly at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour and run at speeds of up to 15 miles per hour. Most domestic turkeys can barely fly, but we have a few lucky ones who have retained the ability to fly up into the trees to roost at night. The natural lifespan of the turkey is between 10 and 12 years, but on factory farms they are slaughtered when they’re just 5 months old.
Here at the Sanctuary, you can see that turkeys love to interact with each other and with people. Here they walk up to people and fan out their tails to say hello. Or in the case of the boys, it could be “stay away from my girls!” It’s very cool to see the color of the bare skin on their necks change from flat grey to shades of red to bright blue when they get excited.
Many visitors agree that they are sweet and affectionate. Gertrude, Amanda’s favorite turkey (running a close second to Zelda) will hop into her lap for scratches and pets. They can remember you and will sit closer to you each time you visit. Soon they will be running up to you when you arrive. And they seem to have a constant desire to keep you company. They watch all you do, while making little chirping comments, like a cat purring when they’re happy.
You may often hear that turkeys are dumb. Not so! Even the Remington Guide to Turkey Hunting says, turkeys will “test your wits as they are rarely tested in modern life.” Many respected researchers have spoken out on behalf of this intelligent, social bird. Oregon State University poultry scientist Tom Savage says, “I’ve always viewed turkeys as smart animals with personality and character, and keen awareness of their surroundings. The ‘dumb’ tag simply doesn’t fit.”
Whatever domestic turkeys may be, people have made them that way. Antibiotics and genetic engineering have made a lot of changes to the bodies of domestic turkeys. But although we’ve mutated and mutilated these beasties, we have been unable to take away the essence of what makes them living beings and Who, not What, they are.
Happy Thanksgiving? Not for turkeys! Spoiler Alert! If you don’t want to know the nasty facts about turkey production, Stop Reading Right Now!
Last year in the US, over 255 million turkeys were killed. Most of them are raised on factory farms. They are denied anything that is natural to them, like dust bathing and foraging for food. Packed together in very overcrowded sheds, each bird has only three square feet of space. Standing in wet litter often leads to foot ulcerations and lameness. Their genetics and high-nutrient diet often causes them to become crippled under their own weight. All of this creates a huge amount of stress for the turkeys, causing excessive pecking and fighting. To keep them from damaging their flesh or killing each other, farmers cut off the ends of their beaks and toes with hot blades. No anesthetics are used. For some turkeys, it is so painful to eat with their mutilated beaks that they will starve to death. Some will also die in the trucks bound for slaughter. But to the mass producer, that is considered an acceptable loss.
At about 14-18 weeks old they are ready for slaughter. Thanksgiving turkeys are really just babies that have been genetically manipulated and intensively reared to grow the biggest bird in the shortest time for the lowest cost. If these birds were allowed to live as the wild turkeys do, these babies would still be sleeping under the protective wing of their mother. Here at the Sanctuary, we have turkeys that have reached “slaughter age”. But feeding them a natural diet and allowing them to run freely makes them about 25% smaller than their factory farm raised cousins. Of course, a lot healthier too.
Prior to slaughter, turkeys are starved for about 12 hours. Very messy otherwise, with fecal matter spilling all over their bodies. In the slaughterhouse, the turkeys are hung by their feet on a moving rail while fully conscious. First, their heads are submerged in an electrified “stunning tank”. This tank immobilizes them, but doesn’t render most of them unconscious. Many birds manage to keep their heads out of the water and remain conscious. After this their throats are slashed by a mechanical blade. Some birds are missed and continue on down the processing line still conscious. The next step on the de-assembly line is the scalding tank. The turkeys are submerged in boiling water to remove their feathers. Remember….some are still alive and conscious.
Tragically, turkeys (in fact all birds-which account for 98% of animals slaughtered for food in the U.S.) are excluded from coverage under the Federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and the Animal Welfare Act. They are no laws that ensure they are raised or killed humanely. None.
I know that a lot of people say, “But I get my turkey from an organic farm and it was raised humanely”. All this means is that the bird may have been feed a better diet and probably had some access to fresh air and a bit of exercise. But they often go to the same slaughterhouses and suffer the same horrid deaths. And really, is having your head chopped off by your neighborhood farmer any kinder. I wish we could ask the turkeys.
Other than lucky few who live on sanctuaries or are cherished as pets, turkeys have little to be thankful for. Our fortunate few show us that they are smart animals with personality, character, and keen awareness of their surroundings. They are social, playful birds who enjoy the company of others. They relish having their feathers stroked and like to chirp, cluck, and gobble to each other and to people. Anyone who spends time with them at our sanctuary quickly learns that turkeys are as varied in personality as dogs and cats. The president “pardons” a turkey every year—Can’t you pardon one, too?
Although, I have to have to say the whole presidential turkey pardon is a disturbing and annoying event. It’s just a silly gesture, “Hey, look, what a funny photo op. Isn’t is cute? We’re pardoning turkeys from their death sentence!”
Of course, this pardon doesn’t do much to provide a better life or prevent the ultimate fate of 45 million other turkeys each Thanksgiving. This tremendous turkey killing spree is not “thanks”, it’s insane. Skip the turkey this Thanksgiving. Please don’t support an industry that abuses these fascinating animals. You are what you eat and who wants to be a “butterball”?
Ben Franklin had tremendous respect for their resourcefulness, agility, and beauty—he called the turkey “a bird of courage” and “a true original native of America.” Franklin even suggested naming the turkey, instead of the eagle, as our national bird. Think of how different next Thanksgiving would be if Congress had agreed with him. Can you imagine anyone sitting down to a dinner of roasted Bald Eagle?
Published by Dorothy on November 16th, 2007 | Filed under Around the Farm
November 17th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Thank you for this important post. If people want to view all you have described firsthand, they can see films of turkey abuse on the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary website.
November 29th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
I am now sponsoring Gertrude! I just love her.That photo is SO CUTE!!Please give her extra kisses from me….