Turkeys
Modern turkeys are bred to reach slaughter size at 13-16 weeks. 40 years ago the average turkey took 32 weeks to reach slaughter size. This rapid growth results in health complications such as skeletal, respiratory, and cardiovascular disease.
Turkey farmers often cut off the ends of the turkeys' beaks and toes. The tip of the beak is cut off with a hot blade, essentially analogous to having your lips cut off. The toes are cut back to the first knuckle without anaesthesia.
Multilations
On most modern farms, turkeys receive less than three square feet. After they hatch, turkeys have the ends of their beaks cut off to prevent them from attacking each other in their crowded conditions. This process is known as “debeaking”, and has been compared to having the ends of your fingers removed. Additionally, turkeys have the ends of their toes and their snoods cut off. All of these tasks are performed without anesthesia.1
Growth
Turkeys in modern farms have been bred and pumped full of antibiotics. As a result they grow much faster than ever before. For example, in the 1960's, it took a turkey 32 weeks to reach slaughter size, but now, it takes only 13-16 weeks.
When it comes to turkeys, they have been bred to have such large breasts that they cannot even mount and mate on their own. A method of artificial insemination is their sole means of reproduction. Breeding toms are kept in the dark for most of their lives and milked for their semen once or twice a week, while females are “cracked open” (the term used by industry representatives) twice a week. Their legs are clamped into metal forceps and they are inseminated, one after the other, as workers hurry to inseminate between 1,200 and 1,400 turkeys within two hours.
One factory worker described how young turkeys are curious and friendly with employees “until the first couple AIs—and then they run from you…”2
Turkeys on the way to the slaughterhouse. Some have already died as a result of rough handling and the stresses of open-air transport. (Photo: United Poultry Concerns)
Turkeys suffer from their considerable growth, leading Feedstuffs, an industry journal, to state:
Turkeys have been bred to grow faster and heavier but their skeletons haven't kept pace, which causes "cowboy legs." Commonly, the turkeys have problems standing and fall and are trampled on or seek refuge under feeders, leading to bruises and downgradings as well as culled or killed birds.3
Slaughter
Turkeys are transported in open-air crates to the slaughterhouse. This results in high mortality as the birds are exposed to all sorts of weather, but each turkey is worth so little that it is cheaper overall for the industry to use open-air crates.
They are handled roughly at the slaughterhouse, where they are unloaded by forklift and dropped onto a conveyor belt. With thousands of birds to be processed every hour, there is no reason for employees to stop and pick up the individual birds who miss the belt and fall to the ground.
When it comes time to slaughter the birds, they are hung by their feet on a moving rail and dragged through the stunning tank, an electrified water bath meant to stun and immobilize them. These are often set lower than is necessary to truly render the birds unconscious out of concerns that high voltage might damage the carcass and therefore diminish its value.
They are then carried past the tank to have their throats cut either by a mechanical blade or a plant employee. Often, struggling birds are cut improperly. As a result they are moved, fully conscious, to the scalding tank, where they are boiled alive. This occurrence is so common that the industry has a term for it: “redskins.”4
For more pictures, please click here. Warning: Graphic.
Interested in adopting a turkey this Thanksgiving? Please visit Adopt a Turkey!
- 1. A COK Report: Animal Suffering in the Turkey Industry
- 2. Farm Sanctuary News, “Unnatural Breeding Techniques and Results in Modern Turkey Production”, Winter 2007
- 3. Feedstuffs, 9 September 1991
- 4. United Poultry Concerns, Chicken:The Dangerous Transformation of America’s Favorite Food by Steve Striffler, Yale University Press, 2005
