Thank Dog, Turkeys May Be Spared
Do you know folks who eat turkey breasts? What about terrier breasts?
A new billboard that PETA is working to place near public schools in Ottawa; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, asks children to consider why they call one animal “family” and another “dinner”:
Turkey: ©iStockphoto.com/James Steidl | Dog: ©iStockphoto.com/Eric Isselee
Like dogs, turkeys are highly curious and love to scout out new sights and smells. And like dogs, turkeys are highly social animals who enjoy the company of humans and even like to have their feathers stroked. They are also devoted parents, and in nature, chicks stay with their mothers for a full year.
But on factory farms, turkeys spend nearly their entire lives crammed into stinking, windowless sheds. The only human touch they experience is when workers chop off parts of their beaks and toes and the males’ snoods without any pain relief. Turkey eggs are hatched in an incubator, and the chicks never see their mothers. They are less than a year old when they are shipped to the slaughterhouse, where workers slam their legs into shackles and drag them through a “stunning tank” that immobilizes but doesn’t kill them and a blade slits their throats.
As Thanksgiving approaches, please repost the image of this poignant billboard and ask your friends this: If you wouldn’t pay someone to torment and kill your dog, why pay people to torment and kill a turkey?
