Conceived by artificial insemination, your turkey was in trouble from the word go. Bred to have a heavy breast, this factory farmed turkey looks very little like its wild forbear.
Long before your turkey was out of training feathers, a miniature guillotine device de-beaked this future holiday guest – after all, things get pretty stressful when you are only allowed one square foot to live out your life. In such a cramped space, a whole lot of heavy pecking goes on, and not particularly friendly pecking at that.
Because of the horrible conditions in which commercial turkeys are raised, they receive the best modern medicine has to offer – antibiotics. Yes, the wonder drugs you may need one day to treat your illness may not work because of all the resistant bacteria being created by current factory farming practices.
So, never mind the turkey’s carcass may be contaminated with Salmonella, Campylobacter, or Yersinia bacteria when you place it in your refrigerator. These opportunistic bugs will all but laugh at any antibiotic your helpless physician may prescribe for the vomiting and diarrhea they can cause (and if that’s all you get from them, you’re lucky). And anyway, a family that gets dysentery together shares an experience they will talk about for many holidays to come.
But back to the bird. Four months of eating insecticide-laced soybeans, wheat and other grains flies by quickly. By now your turkey was being crammed onto a truck for his of her very first and last ride – a ride that 10 to 20 percent of the birds don’t even survive. But they were just going to the slaughterhouse anyway. Once there, the bird was trussed up by the legs (head handing down) and given a ride down a conveyer system whose first stop of interest was a circular saw.
Your headless dining companion was then defeathered in boiling water and had its guts ripped out by a mechanical claw that spills the contents of the turkey’s intestines all over the place. (This is where most of the meat gets contaminated with the antibiotic-resistant bacteria.) Quickly dipped in a vat of cold water in order to preserve the meat, your turkey marinated himself with the contents of this fecal soup. Off to cold storage, and the rest is a holiday memory.
So, on these holidays that we have set aside to give thanks for the opportunities with which we have been blessed, most Americans “celebrate” by gorging themselves at the expense of millions of God’s little ones, the turkeys. The mass slaughter of this single purpose-bred species is a reflection of the everyday eating habits of most Americans, who don’t think twice about eating the flesh of a being who has suffered greatly.
Peace on Earth, good will towards men. But do we really know what the words mean? Do we really think that there can be peace or good will on this planet as long as mankind nourishes itself on the suffering of other living beings? It is something to think about as we share the love and compassion of this holiday season.
Did You Know?
Pollution: The meat industry causes more water pollution in the United States than all other countries combined because the animals for food produce 130 times more excrement than the entire humane population-86,600 pounds per second. A typical pig factory farm generates a quanity of raw waste equal to that of a city of 12,000 people.
Land: Of all agricultural land in the United States, 87 percent is used to raise animals for food. Twenty times more land is required to feed a meat-eater than to feed a oure vegetarian.
Water: Raising animals for food consumes more than half of all the water used in the United States. It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce a pound of meat but only 25 gallons to produce a pound of wheat.
Deforestation: Rain forests are being destroyed at a rate of 125,000 square miles per year to create space to raise animals for food. For every quarter-pound fast-food burger made of rain forest beef, 55 square feet of land are consumed.
Energy: Raising animals for food requires more than one-third of all raw materials and fossil fuels used in the United States. Producing a single hamburger patty uses enough fossil fuel to drive a small car 20 miles and enough water for 17 showers.
Animals: You can't be concerned about our environment without caring about our fellow inhabitants, the animals. They're made of flesh and blood, have complex social and psychological lives, and feel pain just like humans do. More than 25 billion a year are killed by the meat industry each year, and they're raised and killed in ways that would horrify any compasionate person.
For a free vegetarian starter kit, call 1-888-VEG-FOOD
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510 (757)-622-PETA
GoVeg.com
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Dr. Stoller is Science Editor of The Animals’ Voice Magazine and is a consultant for San Diego Animal Advocates. He is a pediatrician in private practice.