Thankskilling

The Unfortunate Truth Behind Our Thanksgiving Meal
Posted on 11/18/2022
Turkey

 

by Liliana Webb

  The turkey has become a staple for Thanksgiving feasts all over the nation – unfortunately. In the U.S., 46 million turkeys are slaughtered every year for Thanksgiving alone. Not only that, these turkeys that are held in captivity are treated very poorly. The majority of people probably don’t even think twice when it comes to eating turkey this time of year because eating turkey is a tradition for Americans during Thanksgiving, which comes from way back when the colonists had hunted wild turkeys during autumn. As much as we think it’s a harmless tradition, here is why it is not.

Turkeys are rather interesting animals: some may not know that these birds have their own distinct personalities. Turkeys are indeed individual animals. They have their own preferences, abilities, and behaviors. They’re also sensitive and emotional creatures, especially turkeys that are mothers. They communicate with their chicks while they’re still in their eggs, which makes the chicks feel more protected and secured. But inside industrial facilities, chicks are taken away from their mothers.

After the chicks get hatched in these facilities, they are put into crates immediately to be sent to farms, packed with thousands of other turkeys, which puts them under severe stress. Chicks that are separated from their natural environments will never get to forage or explore. Instead, they watch other chicks around them die in harsh conditions, and they know that they aren’t living happy lives. They pack turkeys in factory farms like cans on store shelves, as if they’re just objects. But they’re living creatures, having nowhere to go and nothing to do. This can drive turkeys to insanity and they can try to harm one another.

Farmers would rather cut off the sharp parts of their beaks and mutilate them rather than help them live better lives. The stress turkeys go through led them to aggression, and turkeys basically suffer to death when kept in captivity. During the slaughtering of turkeys, these sensitive birds go through immense and unimaginable suffering. While fully conscious, they handcuff them before murdering them with knives. They experience every moment of death before actually dying. The harsh life of a turkey is completely inhumane and no living creature deserves to go through the things turkeys go through before their inevitable death.

 

Sources:

“Turkeys.” Food Empowerment Project. 2022 https://foodispower.org/animals-on-land/turkeys/#:~:text=Once%20the%20feathers%20have%20been,each%20year%20for%20Thanksgiving%20alone.

“Under the Feathers: The Curiosity, Intelligence and Personality of Turkeys.” November 14, 2012. https://animaloutlook.org/personality-turkeys/

“Turkeys: Torture on the Holiday Table.” https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/animals-used-food-factsheets/turkeys-factory-farmed-torture-holiday-table/

“10 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Eat Turkey This Thanksgiving.” Taylor Meek. November 27, 2019. https://sentientmedia.org/10-reasons-why-you-shouldnt-eat-turkey-this-thanksgiving/