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.

2. Baby turkeys start their lives in huge incubators such as this one.

3. They will never see their mothers.

4. After a few weeks, they are crammed with thousands of other birds into massive, windowless sheds.

5. On many farms, workers treat birds however they want.

6. And this is what they’ve been found to do.

7. Parts of turkeys’ toes and beaks are cut off—without painkillers.

8. Turkeys are fed, drugged, and genetically manipulated to grow as large and as quickly as possible.

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.

12. When that happens, turkeys who live through the trauma are just loaded onto another truck.

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 …

15. … their throats are slit …

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!