A COK Report:
Animal Suffering in the Turkey Industry
Summary
 The
average American consumes 17 pounds of turkey meat per year. To satisfy this
appetite, 252 million turkeys are killed annually. The vast majority of turkey
meat found in grocery stores and restaurants comes from turkeys intensively
confined on "factory farms." Today's standard practices on the farm,
during transport, and at slaughter cause these turkeys to suffer significant
pain.
In the 1960s, it took 220 days to raise a 35-pound turkey. Due to selective
breeding and growth-promoting drugs, it now takes only 132 days. Such fast growth
causes turkeys to suffer from a number of chronic health problems, including
skeletal disorders and heart disease. As one industry journal concluded, "[T]urkeys
have been bred to grow faster and heavier but their skeletons haven't kept pace."
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Standard industry practices cause turkeys to experience
both acute and chronic pain. |
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Most farmed turkeys spend their entire lives inside overcrowded and poorly
ventilated warehouses that typically house up to 25,000 birds in a single shed
affording as little as one square foot of space per bird. Such stocking densities
make it impossible for most birds to carry out normal behaviors and cause the
turkeys to suffer from stress and disease.
After 14 to 20 weeks, turkeys are transported to slaughter without food, water,
or protection from extreme temperatures. At the slaughter plant, the birds are
dumped onto conveyors and hung upside down in shackles by their legs. In the
United States, there is no legal requirement that poultry be rendered unconscious
before they are slaughtered.
Profits have taken priority over animal welfare. Standard industry practices
cause turkeys to experience both acute and chronic pain. The treatment of these
animals would be illegal if anti-cruelty laws applied to farm animals. But in
the United States, unlike many other countries, there is no federal legislation
protecting turkeys (or other poultry) on the farm, in transit, or during slaughter;
and most state anti-cruelty statutes do not apply to farm animals.
Full report including citations.
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