For those who celebrate Thanksgiving, and eat the traditional turkey, please consider making this year a more compassionate one and skipping the animal. Many people choose "free range," thinking the welfare issue is solved, but as it turns out, "free range" frequently isn't much better than factory farmed, in terms of animal welfare.
What about Free-Range Turkeys? According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the single condition for the term "free-range" is that birds have access to the outdoors. All other facets of a free-range turkey's life can be indistinguishable from the living conditions of a conventionally raised bird. Like all other turkeys raised for food, free-range turkeys receive no protection under the law. Turkeys - all birds, in fact - are excluded from coverage under the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. All animals raised for food are excluded from the Animal Welfare Act. Free-range turkeys suffer the same inhumane transportation and slaughter processes as factory-farmed turkeys. Their flesh is also subject to many of the same contamination issues as factory-farmed turkey flesh because free-range turkeys are taken to the same slaughterhouses as factory-farmed turkeys. As line speeds in slaughterhouses increase, so does the frequency of fecal contamination.
[ Read More ] [ Investigative rescue at a free-range turkey farm in Northern California | PETA's undercover investigation of Butterball | Gentle Thanksgiving ]
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