I’m not saying don’t enjoy your meal, but I thought that we should at least be aware of the turkeys killed and the fact that there is no legislation (at least in the United States) against cruelty towards these animals.
Every year in the United States over 270 million turkeys are killed for their flesh. More than 45 million of these turkeys are killed for Thanksgiving alone, and over 20 million are killed for Christmas. Almost all of them spend their entire lives on factory farms and have almost no federal legal protection from cruelty.
Turkeys raised on factory farms are hatched in large incubators and never see their mothers or feel the warmth of a nest. When they are only a few weeks old, they are moved into filthy, windowless sheds with up to 25,000 other turkeys, where they will spend the rest of their lives until they are sent to the slaughter plant. To keep the birds from killing one another in such crowded conditions, parts of the turkeys’ toes and beaks are cut off, as are the males’ snoods (the flap of skin under the chin). All this is done without any pain relievers…
