TThe United States is the world’s largest producer of turkey and the largest exporter of turkey products. Its inhabitants also consume an ever-increasing amount of these birds. In 1970, Americans ate just over 8 pounds (3.6 kg) per person per year; By 2021, the National Turkey Federation reports that number has nearly doubled to more than 15 pounds.
This demand and modern breeding have transformed turkeys. They have been bred to gain weight quickly, and at slaughter, the average weight of turkeys today is twice what turkeys did in 1960. The contrast with the growth rate of wild turkeys is even greater. At four months old, a male wild turkey will weigh no more than 8 pounds, while at the same age, a male turkey selectively bred for meat will weigh 41 pounds.
This puts enormous pressure on their immature leg bones. Professor John Webster, a veterinarian and expert in farm animal care, studied a similar problem in fast-growing chickens and concluded that they suffer from pain throughout the last third of their lives – a situation that has been compared to someone with arthritis in their legs being forced to stand all day. .
Turkeys have more leg problems than chickens because they are also bred to grow quickly, but in addition, almost all of them are broad-breasted eggs. Birds of this breed are described as “physiologically unbalanced.” They walk or stand less than older breeds, perhaps because it is painful for them to put weight on their legs. A 2013 Study of turkeys at 13 different slaughterhouses It was found that 60% of them suffered from footbed swelling, and 25% suffered from arthritis.
All of these birds are likely to experience pain when walking or standing. These problems can be avoided by genetically selecting which turkeys to raise – in this case, selecting for slower growth to give the birds’ legs time to mature enough to support their body weight.
But the industry’s position on such a proposal was once made clear by Scott Baer, a poultry specialist at Kansas State University, when he wrote in an article Paper 2008: “Although a small percentage of birds may be susceptible to leg problems, it is recommended to use highly selected, fast-growing breeds because the savings in feed costs and time far outweigh the loss of a small number of birds.”
Economics trumps turkeys’ struggles, every time. When Baer refers to “losing a few birds,” he means birds whose condition is so bad that they die before they are ready to be sent for slaughter when they are three or four months old. These deaths occur in birds of a species that, when not bred for maximum breast meat, can live for 10 years.
Nor are these deaths “that small,” except in proportion to the 210 million turkeys raised and slaughtered in the United States. According to the American Poultry Industry Guide, “[turkey] Chicken mortality typically ends up being 5-6%, while total tom mortality is 10-12%,” and according to the USDA, 57% of turkeys slaughtered are toms and 43% are hens.
Let’s do the math on these numbers, keeping in mind the low end of the mortality range conservatively. Then we find that in 2022, producers started with 133 million toms and sent 119.7 million to slaughter. For chickens, the number is 95.1 million, and 90.3 million are sent to slaughter. Putting both sexes together tells us that when Baer refused to lose a few birds, he was saying that the savings in feed costs and time outweighed the painful deaths of 18 million young birds.
In addition to the leg and foot problems that many turkeys suffer from, that study of 13 slaughterhouses found that 30% had blisters or other ulcers on the skin around the breastbone. These “breast buttons,” as they are called, are commonly seen in turkeys that spend most of their time resting on the sternum.
After promoting the newsletter
One factor causing these sores may be bird droppings found in sawdust or sawdust droppings used to cover the floors of commercial turkey barns, where birds flock by the thousands. The droppings are alkaline, and when there is moisture in the droppings or on the bird’s skin, it can cause a caustic burn on the part of the bird that is pressed.
So, for these intentionally mutilated turkeys, there is no escape from pain. If they lie down to avoid the pain of carrying their heavy, unbalanced bodies on their arthritic legs and swollen feet, they will end up with painful ulcers on their breastbones.
And that’s not all. Mercy for animals Secret video The turkeys are showing up at their 15th week of confinement, and some are clearly victims of aggression from other turkeys. They have extensive bloody wounds on their necks, cracks on their scalps, or bleeding from their eyes. The investigator reported some of these problems to the director, but he took no action.
Such is life for birds whose bodies are on the table Thanksgiving Day.
Adapted from Let us consider Türkiye here. Copyright © 2024 by Peter Singer. Reprinted with permission from Princeton University Press.
