Just two reasons not to eat Turkey

Industrial slaughterhouses treat livestock very badly. That's not news. But, a reminder now and then is welcomed, lest we forget because it's more convenient to ignore it.

The PETA lists ten reasons not to eat Turkey, some of which I don't give a damn about. What mattes to me is how cruelly the animals are treated.

6. Factory-farmed turkeys have nothing to be thankful for
On factory farms, turkeys live for months in sheds where they are packed so tightly that flapping a wing or stretching a leg is nearly impossible. They stand mired in waste, and urine and ammonia fumes burn their eyes and lungs. To keep the birds from killing one another in such crowded conditions, parts of the turkeys’ toes and beaks are cut off, as are the males’ snoods (the flap of skin under the chin). All this is done without any pain relievers.

Last fall, a PETA investigator went undercover at Aviagen Turkeys in West Virginia and documented workers stomping on turkeys, punching them, beating them with pipes and boards, and twisting their necks repeatedly. One worker even bragged about shoving a broomstick down a turkey’s throat because the bird had pecked at him. Our previous investigations show that such gratuitous abuse is the norm on turkey farms.

7. Turkeys die bloody, painful deaths
When the time comes for slaughter, turkeys are thrown into transport trucks, and at the slaughterhouse, they are hung upside-down and their heads are dragged through an electrified “stunning tank,” which immobilizes them but does not kill them. Many birds dodge the tank and are still conscious when their throats are slit. If the knife fails to properly slit the birds’ throats, the birds are scalded to death in the defeathering tanks.

That's enough reasons. Makes me sick to my stomach. It costs money to treat animals decent, so they don't. There is an alternative for consumers (organic and free-range turkeys), but during Thanksgiving I doubt they alone can live up to the demand.

I can assure everyone that soy-beans are treated very humanely. Eat tofu instead. Healthier, too.