17 Reasons to Pass on Turkey This Year
1. Three hundred million turkeys are killed in the U.S. each year, many for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
![wild turkeys](https://secure.peta.org/images/content/pagebuilder/Wild-Turkeys.jpg)
2. Baby turkeys start their lives in huge incubators such as this one.
![turkey chicks](https://secure.peta.org/images/content/pagebuilder/turkey-chicks.jpg)
3. They will never see their mothers.
![turkeys heat lamp](https://secure.peta.org/images/content/pagebuilder/turkeys-heat-lamp.jpg)
4. After a few weeks, they are crammed with thousands of other birds into massive, windowless sheds.
![turkey warehouse](https://secure.peta.org/images/content/pagebuilder/turkey-warehouse.jpg)
5. On many farms, workers treat birds however they want.
![turkey neck break](https://secure.peta.org/images/content/pagebuilder/turkey-neck-break.gif)
6. And this is what they’ve been found to do.
![turkey head stomp](https://secure.peta.org/images/content/pagebuilder/turkey-head-stomp.gif)
7. Parts of turkeys’ toes and beaks are cut off—without painkillers.
![turkey debeaking](https://secure.peta.org/images/content/pagebuilder/turkey-debeaking.gif)
8. Turkeys are fed, drugged, and genetically manipulated to grow as large and as quickly as possible.
![crippled turkey](https://secure.peta.org/images/content/pagebuilder/crippled-turkey.jpg)
9. In 1970, the average turkey weighed 17 pounds. Today, turkeys average 28 pounds.
Some turkeys’ bodies can’t handle the extra weight, so their legs break beneath them.
10. At around 5 months, turkeys are sent to the slaughterhouse.
In the wild, they can live to be 10 years old.
11. The trucks that take them to slaughter sometimes crash.
![food truck accident](https://secure.peta.org/images/content/pagebuilder/food_trucks_accidents_leesburg.jpg)
12. When that happens, turkeys who live through the trauma are just loaded onto another truck.
![turkey transport truck crash](https://secure.peta.org/images/content/pagebuilder/turkey-transport-truck-crash.gif)
13. At the slaughterhouse, turkeys are hung upside down by their legs.
Their fragile legs often break during the process.
14. Then they are electrocuted …
![turkeys electrified](https://secure.peta.org/images/content/pagebuilder/turkeys-electrified-water.gif)
15. … their throats are slit …
![turkey throat slit](https://secure.peta.org/images/content/pagebuilder/turkey-throat-slit.gif)
16. … and they are dunked in scalding-hot water.
Many turkeys aren’t properly stunned and are scalded to death in these tanks.
17. This is modern turkey farming.
Give turkeys something to be thankful for!