Thanksgiving

While I hope everyone is having a nice Thanksgiving and spending time with their families (or chosen families), I also think it's important to consider the realities of this holiday. We go around laughing and saying, "gobble, gobble." We discuss cooking techniques to get the perfect texture. We take pictures of the finished "product" (not that I am above this). But, I think we forget about how the turkeys actually got to our plates. We don't see the suffering. Instead, we sit around, listing what we are thankful for, often forgetting that they lived a life of torture. They spent their entire lives suffering so our taste buds could feel good for five minutes.

I think we must remember them today. And we must remember that our choices have ramifications.

The following account is quite graphic, but I believe it must be shared:

Broiler turkeys are usually slaughtered between 12 to 27 weeks, depending on their size. They spend the last few weeks of their lives in dim artificial lighting (sometimes pitch black to prepare them in case there is a power cut). They become distressed and there is no doubt that they are in pain. The more they grow, the worse the conditions become. They can very rarely support their own weight. The turkeys will compete for food and water as there are so many birds, it is usually hard to reach. The ones who are too crippled to move die, either of starvation, dehydration, being trampled or pecked to death.

A pole barn is similar to a broiler shed, although one side is netted allowing natural light and ventilation in. Pole barn turkeys have slightly more space to themselves. However, the natural lighting and cramped conditions causes aggression between the birds and sometimes cannibalism resulting in the turkeys having their sensitive beaks cut which causes trauma and stress. Pole barn turkeys are exposed to all weather conditions, be it blistering cold or intense heat; they can't get away.

When the birds are ready for slaughter, they are thrown into crates and loaded onto trucks; skin grazing and broken blood vessels are a common occurrence in this part of the process. The lorries are then driven through all weathers, sometimes considerable distances in the blistering cold or sweltering heat.

Once there, the turkeys are placed upside down and clipped into shackles on a conveyor belt. The law states that they can remain upside for up to 6 minutes. The turkeys can weigh between 12 and 60lbs, and hanging upside down must cause considerable amount of pain, especially to the birds who have dislocated or even broken bones.

The turkeys heads are dragged through water with an electrical charge running through it, this supposedly stuns them, that is, if the turkey doesn't move her/his head like s/he does in so many cases. It has also been reported that in several cases, the turkeys wings will drag in the water first. Smaller slaughterhouses use a handheld stunner. These stunners are smaller so are unlikely to cause a cardiac arrest, meaning the turkeys may be fully conscious when they have their throats cut. The conveyor belt continues its journey taking the birds toward the automatic neck cutting machine. The turkeys who are still conscious will once again move their heads as a natural reaction for something coming toward it.

Next they are taken to the scalding tank where they are plunged into water so hot it loosens the feathers ready for plucking. 35,000 turkeys enter the scalding tank alive and fully conscious every year. The turkeys are then plucked, unrequired bits hacked off, packaged and distributed to your local supermarket.

Pretty gruesome, eh? I know it’s easy to forget about what really goes into the food on your plate, but I think it’s especially important to remember today. I hope we can all be thankful for compassion and practice it ourselves by having a cruelty-free holiday.

If you would like to see more, I urge you to watch this video: