I rischi nel mangiare carne

Dottor George Clements – “Scienza & Salute”, giugno 1989

“Io non mangerò mai più carne finché il mondo esiste”. I Cor. 8:13.
"L'estrema avversione che alcuni adulti e molti bambini mostrano nei confronti della carne di ogni tipo, è attribuita da Fitch ad una tendenza atavica, cioè alla sopravvivenza dell'istinto primitivo dei nostri antenati preistorici che non mangiavano carne” - (J. H. Kellog, M.D., editore Buona Saluto).
"E' stata notata l'enorme quantità di morti in America dovuta al morbo di Bright. Non ho più dubbi che la dieta ricca di carne rovini i reni, specialmente considerando gli esperimenti dei dr. Newburgh, i quali provano che possiamo, con certezza matematica, produrre il morbo di Bright anche nei topi, mettendoli a dieta con molta carne” - (M. Hindhede, M.D., Commissario della Sanità in Danimarca),

La carne è stata a lungo sospettata di essere un cibo povero. Un'ampia esperienza sta provando che il sospetto è fondato. L'avvertimento di solito era: mangia meno carne. Ora è: non mangiare la carne.
Gli uomini un tempo credevano che la carne fosse necessaria per produrre sangue. Ora è noto che la frutta fresca, le bacche e le verdure forniscono il corpo di materiale migliore di quello che danno le migliori bistecche.

Il brodo di manzo è stato a lungo considerato un valido tonico e stimolante, quasi indispensabile per i malati deboli. Ora è noto che è vero il contrario. Secondo un eminente medico francese, il brodo di manzo è una «vera soluzione di veleni». Il dottor Austin Flint, dei Bellevue Hospital College, uno dei più importanti medici d'America, fece un'analisi chimica dei brodo di manzo, e scoprì che il risultato era praticamente lo stesso di un'analisi dell'urina.
E' inevitabile che sia così, perchè il brodo di manzo, il brodo di carne, il brodo di pollo, il bollito e gli estratti di carne di tutti i tipi sono dei veri e propri tessuti disintegrati, preparati artificialmente, proprio come l'urina, che è composta da tessuti disintegrati, prodotti dal metabolismo dei corpo. Il brodo di manzo, perciò, è un veleno che intossica. Non ha proprietà nutritive; il suo uso non è mai indicato; né ha la capacità di aiutare i malati deboli o i convalescenti.

Bouchard scoprì che aggiungendo la carne nel regime dietetico, la tossicità dell'urina aumentava del 50%, e se la dieta consisteva interamente di carne, la tossicità aumentava dei 400%. Sterling scoprì che mangiare carne aumentava il contenuto di acido urico dell’urina da tre a dieci volte. Alla luce di questo, è da ricordare che l'acido urico, in combinazione con altre tossine, è considerato da molti ricercatori il più attivo di tutte le sostanze che producono le malattie.

Un tempo si supponeva che la carne fosse particolarmente salutare nella cura della tisi. Qualche anno fa un tedesco entusiasta fondò un'istituzione col proposito di nutrire i tisici esclusivamente con la carne, usando principalmente carne cruda. L'iniziativa fallì in sei mesi.
La carne si decompone nel tratto digestivo; il veleno risultante viene assorbito e il sangue contaminato, con risultati disastrosi. Questa è la principale causa che predispone al cancro, alla tisi e ad altri tipi di anormalità.

Gli esami post mortem, fatti in centinaia di casi al Phipps Institute di Philadelphia, hanno dimostrato che l'86% di tutti i malati di tisi avevano anche i reni malati, e in uno stadio abbastanza avanzato. L'indebolimento dei reni è, infatti, fra la cause più comuni di morte nella tubercolosi polmonare. Ed è sempre la carne ad essere in genere responsabile dei morbo di Bright e di altre disfunzioni renali.
"Nella dieta di frutta, noci e verdure, i malati di cancro hanno nelle loro mani i mezzi per liberarsi largamente, se non interamente, dalla paura che accompagna questa terribile malattia. lo l'ho verificato molte volte nella mia esperienza, e nella cura di questa malattia mi si è aperta una porta ancora più ampia da quando ho conosciuto il valore di una dieta simile". (George Biack, M.D.).
“Il cibo animale, l'abuso del quale si fa ogni giorno più grande, non è un cibo in nessun senso, ma un veleno continuo". (Prof. Dr. Huchard).
“Se non fosse per la carne, noi dottori avremmo poco da fare. - (Dr. Allison, esperto in alimentazione).

Per più di un centinaio di anni, i medici ostinatamente sostennero che una dieta composta principalmente di carne, era essenziale per la cura vittoriosa dei diabete. Di questa assurda teoria Trall osserva: “Io non posso qui fare a meno di alludere ad un perfezionato regime dietetico che è stato recentemente proposto dall'Accademia francese di Medicina, e discusso nel giornali di medicina di questo paese, per la cura della malattia chiamata diabete. Questo miglioramento consiste nel nutrire il paziente con la carne di animali carnivori - gatti, cani, volpi, ecc.. E allo stesso scopo di vincere il pregiudizio che la mente o il palato dei paziente potrebbero avere contro l'alimentazione al sangue, si propone poi di condirla abbondantemente con brandy e spezie. Tali scoperte nella scienza medica hanno il potere di portarci indietro nel Medio Evo, piuttosto che condurci a dei risultati utili nel futuro". - (Il corretto cibo dell'uomo).

Ancora abbastanza recentemente era usuale per i medici nutrire i diabetici quasi esclusivamente con la carne. Questa è una ragione per cui questi malati non guariscono mai. I dottori "senza farmaci" hanno provato che, una dieta di carne peggiora la malattia, aumenta la presenza di zucchero nell'urina e, comunque, peggiora lo stato del paziente.

Una dieta di carne magra è stata a lungo considerata benefica nel casi di obesità. Ora è noto che in simili casi di anormalità c'è una tendenza a sviluppare il diabete, e questo aumenta mangiando la carne. Commentando i pericoli nel mangiare la carne magra, Hindhede disse: “Noi abbiamo provato anche a vivere di sola carne. Ma dopo esserci nutriti di carne magra, cotta o arrostita, tre volte al giorno, In soli tre giorni stavamo così male che nessuno di noi volle continuare. Quale fu la causa? Dunque, quando gli intestini sono pieni di carne magra, il risultato è la putrefazione, che si manifesta in diarrea e feci maleodoranti. Attraverso questo processo sono probabilmente prodotte delle tossine, che una volta assorbite, causano un avvelenamento. Una dieta di sola carne magra è velenose per l'uomo, non ci sono dubbi su questo".
Hindhede ha condannato anche le uova e il latte con queste parole: “ClO' CHE E' STATO DETTO SULLA CARNE E'VALIDO PER LE UOVA E IN PARTE PER IL LATTE”.

Il beri-beri, lo scorbuto, il rachitismo e la pellagra sono malattie da deficienza, e spesso risultano dal mangiare troppa carne. Tutti i tipi di carne mancano di molti elementi che il corpo deve avere per costruire dei tessuti sani. La carne è molto carente di vitamine e di sali di calce. D'altra parte, la frutta fresca le bacche e le verdure sono ricche sia di vitamine che di sali, e mangiandole si assumono tutte le vitamine e i sali di cui il corpo ha bisogno.
Qualche anno fa uno specialista dello stomaco fece trasalire il mondo della medicina affermando che "l'ulcera dello stomaco è una malattia di chi mangia la carne”. Il cancro dello stomaco e degli intestini ha origine dalla stessa causa - quando non è prodotto dalla vaccinazione o dalla inoculazione.
“Il 75% delle malattie più terribili di cui soffriamo, sono in pratica avvelenamenti causati da cibi non naturali. La natura dice, in un modo che non può essere frainteso, che l'uomo è un animale frugivoro e non carnivoro". - (Alexander Haig M.A.,F.R.C.P.).

Quei mangiatori di carne, che sono troppo deboli per abbandonarne l'abitudine, e quelli i cui dividendi dipendono dall'industria che inscatola la carne, sono sempre pronti a fare una grande pubblicità ad ogni informazione che sembra aiutare la loro causa.
Molte persone credono che per avere forza e vigore è necessario mangiare carne rossa. Sembrano dimenticare che i buoi e gli elefanti prendono la loro grande forza e il sangue dall'erba e dalle foglie, ricche di vitamine, di calcio, di ferro e di altri sali minerali. I deboli, i magri e gli anemici, invece di nutrirsi di fegato di vitello e di olio di fegato di merluzzo, dovrebbero trovare i cibi vitali nel regno vegetale, per la mancanza dei quali il loro sangue sta morendo di fame e il loro corpo si sta ammalando.

Le informazioni relative al rischi nel mangiare la carne, dovrebbero essere sufficienti a ridurre di molto il consumo della carne. Ma se i rischi si limitassero solo a quanto scritto sopra, l'argomento sarebbe di così poca importanza da ricevere poca attenzione da parte nostra.
E' stato recentemente dimostrato da Moore, nei laboratori di Fisiologia di Harvard, che una dieta di carne causa un'accelerazione dei battito cardiaco sorprendente per velocità e durata.
Dopo un pasto di carne, l'aumento dei battiti cardiaci va regolarmente dal 25 al 50% sopra il livello rispetto al digiuno, e persiste, in soggetti sperimentali, da 15 a 20 ore, raggiungendo un totale di molte migliaia di battiti in più.
Moore mostrò che un pasto di proteine causa un sovraccarico di lavoro per il cuore, che è paragonabile, in estensione, all'attività totale del cuore di due o tre ore; ciò ha portato Moore ad affermare che una dieta con molte proteine è incompatibile coi riposo cardiaco.

La carne, scendendo nello stomaco e nelle budella dell'uomo, è come se giacesse sotto il sole estivo al margine della strada, e ciò di certo causa danni maggiori di quanto sia mai stato detto o scoperto.
Uno dei prodotti della carne decomposta è l'urina, e non ha importanza se la carne si è decomposta nello stomaco, nella pentola o dal macellaio. I prodotti secondari della carne decomposta passano nel sangue dei consumatori di carne, e devono essere filtrati ed eliminati dai reni come uno scarto velenoso, che serve solo ad indebolire il corpo e a logorare i reni, portando al morbo di Bright e ad altre malattie renali.

La carne, scendendo nel tratto digestivo che è di una bellezza teatrale, dipinto con tutti i colori di una bambola di cera, forma uno dei veleni più mortali che i chimici abbiano mai conosciuto, e dà al respiro un odore nauseante che si tenta di correggere masticando caramelle e gomme profumato. Il dentista dica che il cattivo odore proviene dal denti malati, mostrando quanto abbia ancora da imparare.
Quando il sangue diventa così contaminato da questi veleni, la pelle viene in suo soccorso e, in un processo di emergenza, crea un'eruzione; i dottori possono definirla morbillo, varicella, eczema, e così via, e cercano di "curare la malattia” con altri veleni sottotorma di farmaci e sieri.
Non c'è da stupirsi se il grande Metchnikoff, dopo una vita di studi sull'argomento, abbia dichiarato che la putrefazione alimentare sia responsabile della morte prematura, che è causa di tutte le malattie, perchè questi pericolosi veleni passano dal canale alimentare nella linfa e nel sangue, e da questi sono condotti in tutto le parti dei corpo - il fegato, i polmoni, i reni, il cuore e il cervello.

L'origine di tutte le malattie giace nella putrefazione alimentare, disse Metchnikoff. Qual è il rimedio sicuro? La rimozione della causa, non l'uso di farmaci, sieri e bisturi.
Molti studi sperimentali hanno indicato che mangiare carne causa la nefrite cronica. Il professor Newburg, dell'università dei Michigan, ha dichiarato che una piccola porzione di proteine della carne, come il 20%, porta ad un logoramento dei reni.
Le esigenze dell'ultima guerra sono servito a dimostrare il valore di una dieta poco proteica. Maiali e bestiame furono uccisi in Europa con lo scopo di conservare le provviste di cibo, e le popolazioni si nutrirono per un certo periodo soprattutto di frutta e verdura. Il risultato fu una riduzione di un terzo della mortalità, oltre a una grande riduzione delle malattie. Alcune malattie come il diabete, l'obesità, la gotta, i disturbi digestivi, i problemi dei fegato e dei reni e altre malattie dei l'alimentazione sparirono quasi completamente.
La gente rovina la propria salute mangiando carne, poi paga i dottori per farsi curare i sintomi che provengono da questo abuso. Molti medici ignorano la causa che si nasconde dietro i sintomi di alcune malattie, perché anche loro mangiano liberamente la carne come molti dei loro pazienti, e soffrono e muoiono prematuramente per la stessa "malattia”.

Fonte: Disinformazione.it

Polli messi al forno, prima di “impazzire”

Questo articolo è datato, ma purtroppo molto attuale!

Guglielmo Donadello, consulente aziendale settore zootecnico e agroalimentare (Liberazione, 19 novembre 2000)

Che cos’è oggi il pollo da carne? Stiamo parlando di broiler.
Tutti i polli che compriamo e mangiamo, in tutto il mondo, sono oramai solo di un paio di razze ibride (denominate COBB 500, i cui brevetti sono in mano alla The Cobb Breeding Company LTD), nate nei segreti laboratori di genetica applicata, selezionate esclusivamente per l’ingrassaggio. Il risultato di queste selezioni è una vera macchina biologica ad elevatissimo “indice di conversione”: un broiler mangia un chilo e mezzo di mangime e ne “produce” uno di carne. Lo fanno vivere solo 35 giorni (non ha neanche il tempo per diventare pazzo). Questi polli denominati “galletti” quando arrivano a “maturazione” pesano vivi in media sui 2,3 chili e preparati a busto circa 1,2. Per avere queste rese così elevate e cicli biologici così accelerati servono allevamenti e mangimi adatti.

Come vengono allevati
Si chiama allevamento integrato. Assoggettato, cioè, alla filiera industriale della produzione di carne, le cui principali fasi sono: produzione della gallina ovaiola, incubatoi delle uova, produzione dei pulcini, magnifici, macelli, industria di lavorazione, logistica, commercializzazione nella rete della grande distribuzione organizzata. Nel nostro paese due aziende controllano oltre il 70% del mercato. Una è l’AIA del gruppo Veronesi e l’altra è del gruppo Amadori.
L’allevamento viene svolto in grandi capannoni dove possono stare decine di migliaia di volatili: con una densità di 10-15 per metroquadro, sino a 30 chili di “carne” a mq. (I regolamenti UE per gli allevamenti biologici stabiliscono in tre polli per metro quadrato la densità massima ammissibile). Beccano tutto ciò che ha colore paglierino, giorno e notte, grazie all’illuminazione artificiale. Le temperature sono sempre elevate (anche a causa della luce e delle deiezioni, che vengono raccolte con una ruspa per la produzione della pollina, sottoprodotto usato come concime agricolo o combustibile; e fino a 10 anni fa come mangime per bovini da ingrasso).
Le condizioni igieniche sono terribili. Gli animali vivono dal primo all’ultimo giorno della loro brevissima vita calpestando e dormendo sulle loro deiezioni. Le infezioni batteriologiche sono contrastate dal primo all’ultimo giorno di vita con gli antibiotici contenuti nei mangimi; ma per i virus – come si sa – non ci sono farmaci. Da qui l’uso di vaccini che, come è noto, creano una quantità di anticorpi che contrastano l’estrinsecazione delle manifestazioni patologiche del virus, ma impediscono la eradicazione dello stesso, consentendo che animali solo apparentemente sani siano commercializzati: con il rischio che il virus si trasferisca dall’animale all’uomo. A questo si aggiunge il rumore spaventoso provocato dal pigolare di 50.000 – 100.000 animali spaventati, tenuti in quelle condizioni.
L’organismo del broiler, che è pur sempre un animale diurno, viene messo a dura prova, l’apparato digerente stressato, la sua capacità di resistenza agli agenti patogeni fortemente indebolita. Nel territorio dove sono inseriti, senza un minimo di criterio di biosicurezza, questi allevamenti sono delle vere e proprie bombe batteriologiche, pericolose e costose per tutta la collettività. Pericolose, in quanto incubatoi di possibili virus trasmissibili agli uomini, come salmonelle e influenze; costose, come il caso dell’ultima peste aviaria costata alla sola regione veneta 110 miliardi, e altri 500 allo stato.

Cosa mangiano
I polli dovrebbero mangiare mais, soia e fibre. Trasformano proteine vegetali in proteine nobili. I broiler, che rappresentano il 99% dei 520 milioni di polli e dei 22 milioni di tacchini che mangiamo ogni anno, mangiano esclusivamente mangimi industriali, prodotti in larghissima misura da due o tre aziende. Le formule di questi mangimi sono top secret; possono in questo modo metterci dentro di tutto e di più. Il mais e la soia, che sono i componenti principali (fino al 60/70%), sono in grandissima parte di importazione e di produzione transgenetica, perché costano meno. Contrariamente alle normative per i bovini, i mangimi per pollame e tacchini possono contenere farine di carne e di pesce, pannelli di olio esausto, grassi di origine animale. La vicenda di due anni fa dei polli belgi alla diossina è dovuta a un “eccesso” di PCB, ma se sta nei limiti tollerati si può dare da mangiare ai polli anche oli esausti di motori.
Ma i risultati migliori si ottengono con le proteine animali derivate dalle interiora, dalle teste, dalle zampe, dalle piume derivate dai loro fratelli morti in precedenza; oltre alle proteine animali acquistate dove costano meno (farine di sangue e di pesce). Ai polli ed ai tacchini ne vengono somministrate una quantità fino al 30% nel tacchino, un po’ meno per il pollo.

Cosa si ottiene
Si ottengono dei pulcinotti venduti come galletti o tacchini, con una carne senza gusto né qualità organolettiche, e di dubbia salubrità.
I polli così allevati se li cucini due minuti di più letteralmente si sbriciolano, se li lasci raffreddare rilasciano il classico odore di pesce con cui sono stati allevati. Oggi la carne di pollo non viene offerta da nessun ristorante degno di questo nome, viene data solo nelle mense delle fabbriche, delle scuole o per le mense delle famiglie sotto i due milioni al mese.
Per i tacchini è ancora peggio: la carne è letteralmente immangiabile. Amadori la tritura, aggiunge un po’ di manzo e propone in questi giorni con la pubblicità i rotoloni di carne “per una buona domenica da passare in famiglia”. Questi rotoli sono fatti con la carne di tacchini con aggiunta di carne di manzo e – come si dice in gergo – con la giusta quantità di aromatizzanti.
Nessuno, ad esclusione dei pochi NAS, protegge i consumatori. Nessuno controlla, e i nostri 7000 veterinari pubblici, come da precise istruzioni, guardano, registrano, e alla fine non possono fare altro.

Altro che polli asiatici! Tutta la verità su quelli italiani

Paola Magni e Claudio Vigolo - tratto da www.lifegate.it

Ai microfoni di LifeGate Radio, il Dottor Enrico Moriconi, Presidente dell’Associazione Culturale Veterinari di Salute Pubblica, ha risposto a questa e altre domande

Quali sono le condizioni igieniche negli allevamenti italiani?
Le condizioni sono critiche. Siamo in situazione di sovraffollamento. Gli animali vengono tenuti per tutto il periodo della loro vita sulla stessa lettiera, respirano l’ammoniaca che si libera dagli escrementi che loro producono. Hanno uno stato di stress continuo, che deve essere corretto - anche se gli allevatori smentiscono -  con la somministrazione di farmaci.

Recenti analisi di laboratorio commissionate da Lav e Il Salvagente hanno evidenziato la presenza di residui di antibiotici in 4 polli italiani su 10… Perché vengono somministrati gli antibiotici e con che frequenza?
Gli antibiotici sono la base dell’allevamento intensivo: gli allevamenti intensivi sono storicamente nati nel momento in cui sono stati disponibili grandi quantità di antibiotici. Questi farmaci rendono possibile l’allevamento, altrimenti lo stress, il sovraffollamento, le carenti condizioni igieniche farebbero scoppiare delle malattie. Questi farmaci aumentano la crescita degli animali e contemporaneamente li proteggono da alcune malattie. Nel caso dei virus non servono. Il fatto che l’antibiotico sia somministrato continuativamente, nonostante sia ammesso farlo solo in caso di terapia, è facilmente dimostrabile. Qualche anno fa, ad esempio, ci fu lo scandalo in Gran Bretagna dei polli che venivano rietichettati e venduti anche un mese dopo la reale scadenza. Ebbene, questo fu possibile proprio perché i polli sono pieni di sostanze chimiche che non li fanno “marcire”.   

Cosa mangiano i polli italiani negli allevamenti intensivi?
Il mangime è principalmente costituito da mais e altri cereali. In più vi sono degli integratori a base di sostanze grasse per favorire la crescita. Anche l’olio esausto, l’olio dai motori delle macchine usato, è ammesso nella dieta dei polli
Italiani, che sono considerati come dei “grandi riciclatori”. Molti sottoprodotti sono  quindi permessi. Per quanto riguarda mais e soia ogm nei mangimi, non c’è obbligo di etichettatura poi nel pollo. Bisogna dire che chi mangia carne ha una forte possibilità di mangiare proteine geneticamente modificate, proprio perché negli allevamenti non biologici l’uso di mangimi geneticamente modificati è permesso.

Illuminazione artificiale che li tiene 24 ore su 24 alla luce e densità di 15-20 polli per metro quadro… Animali così stressati saranno anche più deboli…
L’illuminazione artificiale tende a creare un’atmosfera uniformemente “grigiastra” , perché se ci fosse troppa luce sarebbero acuiti i fenomeni di cannibalismo. In queste condizioni la mortalità degli animali è comunque alta, ma il loro valore commerciale è così basso da non preoccupare particolarmente l’allevatore.

Parlare degli allevamenti intensivi italiani come di “bombe batteriologiche” è esagerato?
Le definirei piuttosto “bombe ecologiche”: al problema della presenza di batteri si somma il problema delle deiezioni da smaltire, e quindi dell’eutrofizzazione delle acque e della presenza di nitrati nelle falde acquifere.

Quale strada intraprendere per migliorare la qualità degli allevamenti e prevenire così epidemie come l’influenza aviaria?
Bisognerebbe mangiare meno carne o addirittura smettere di mangiarne. Questa risposta può sembrare un po’ estrema ma rende bene l’idea di come per migliorare il benessere – anche di quelli che vogliono mangiare la carne- sia indispensabile per tutti noi abbassarne i consumi.

Fonte: Disinformazione.it

This is What the Meat Industry Doesn’t Want You to See

Source: Peta

If You Had a Choice

Compassion Over Killing MTV ad.

Debeaking Birds Has Got to Stop

Egg producers remove a portion of hens’ beaks with machinery, and without painkillers, to reduce the feather pecking that can occur in birds confined with no outlet for their normal foraging, dustbathing, and exploratory activities. Debeaked birds suffer acute and chronic pain in their beaks, heads and faces, because the nerves of the beak are connected to the nerves in the face and the brain which start to develop when the embryo is two days old. Debeaked birds cannot grasp their food efficiently, and they have trouble preening themselves and grooming the faces of their flock mates, which can cause them to appear to be “aggressive,” when all they are trying to do is remove bits of debris that a normal beak grasps easily.

Rough handling, yelling and being grabbed by the head, neck, tail or wing, as operators shove the birds’ faces up against and into the debeaking machinery, then pull the birds violently away and toss them into containers, causes broken bones, torn and twisted beaks and injuries to their delicate joints.

Photo by: East Bay Animal Advocates
"Free-range organic" young turkeys at Diestel Turkey Ranch with surgically mutilated beaks that will drop off leaving severely shortened upper beaks.

Background

In the 1920s, farmers began raising chickens indoors on wire floors. Crowded together with no opportunity to scratch, dustbathe, and explore, the birds started picking at each other. Instead of rectifying the environment, farmers chose beak mutilation. In the 1930s and ‘40s, a San Diego, California farmer named T.E. Wolfe used a gas torch to burn off part of the upper beaks of his hens. Later his neighbor adapted a soldering iron by giving it a chisel edge that enabled operators to apply downward pressure on the bird’s upper beak to sear and cauterize it. In 1942-1943, the San Diego company Lyon Electric developed and registered the first “Debeaker” machine. The company is still in business.

Chickens raised for meat are no longer debeaked because “meat-type” chickens are slaughtered as six-week old babies, before they are old enough to form a social order. By contrast, hens used to produce eggs for human consumption and roosters used for breeding in the egg and meat industries are debeaked between the ages of one-day-old and five months old. Likewise, turkeys, pheasants, quails, and guinea fowl are debeaked and ducks are debilled. So-called “free-range” and “cage-free” chickens and turkeys are usually debeaked at the hatchery as well.

Poultry producers used to deceive the public that a beak was as insensitive as the tip of a fingernail, but this assertion can no longer be made because decades of research have refuted it. Debeaking was fully explored by the Brambell Committee, a group of veterinarians and other experts appointed by the British Parliament to investigate welfare concerns arising from Ruth Harrison’s expose of factory farming – Harrison coined the term “factory farming” – in her book Animal Machines, published in 1964. In 1965, the Brambell Committee said “beak-trimming should be stopped immediately in caged birds and within two years for non-caged birds.”

The Committee explained: “The upper mandible of the bird consists of a thin layer of horn covering a bony structure of the same profile which extends to within a millimeter or so of the tip of the beak. Between the horn and bone [of the beak] is a thin layer of highly sensitive soft tissue, resembling the quick of the human nail. The hot knife blade used in debeaking cuts through this complex of horn, bone and sensitive tissue causing severe pain.”

Acute and Chronic Pain

In 1993, Ian Duncan, a poultry researcher at the University of Guelph in Ontario, said “there is now good morphological, neurophysiological, and behavioral evidence that beak trimming leads to both acute and chronic pain,” including phantom limb pain. Poultry producers use the term “beak tenderness” to describe conditions that prompt advice about the need for deep feed troughs to prevent the wounded beak from bumping the bottom of the trough resulting in starve-outs. Machine operators are reminded to do the “very tedious task” of beak trimming carefully, because “too often it is done carelessly” causing eyes to be “seared” and “blisters in the mouth.”

“Further Research”

Debeaking experiments are a worldwide enterprise. The 2005 book, Beak Trimming, edited by Philip C. Glatz, contains 27 pages of published experiments covering 40 years. (Countless other experiments have never been published.) Despite the “wealth of scientific information on the welfare of beak-trimmed birds, beak-trimming methods and alternatives to beak-trimming,” according to Beak Trimming, “there is a lack of comprehensive studies that measure the effect of beak-trimming on welfare using multiple indicators (physiological as well as behavioural) and it is hard to compare between studies due to different methods of beak-trimming and beak-trimming at different ages” (Glatz, p. 77). More research is “needed.” Etc. Etc.

Debeaking methods include the use of hot blades, cold blades, soldering irons, jackknives, pruning shears, dog nail clippers, liquid nitrogen used to “declaw emus,” machines consisting of “a hot plate and cutting bar operated by means of a foot lever,” robotic beak trimmers where chicks are loaded onto the robot by hand, with “holding cups around their heads,” chemical debeaking using capsaicin, “a cheap non toxic substance extracted from hot peppers that causes depletion of certain neuropeptides from sensory nerves in birds,” infrared beak treatment machines that cause the affected part of the beak to soften and “erode away,” and laser machines that cut the beak tissue with “intense emissions of light” and heat absorption.

The suffering of the birds subjected to these torturous surgeries is played down by many (not all) of the experimenters. For example, in one experiment, newborn chicks whose beaks were cut with an ophthalmic laser were said to “vocalize” in response to an increase in “energy density” indicating they were feeling “discomfort” when the laser failed to cut the inner bone of their beaks, seemingly “due to the lack of [electrical] power” (Glatz, p. 9).

A machine called a Bio-Beaker, developed in Millsboro, Delaware in the 1980s, uses a high voltage electrical current to burn a hole in the upper beak that’s supposed to cause it to fall off in about a week. The birds “struggle” as their beaks are shoved into the instrument and “struggle” again when the electricity is administered, and they often have to be debeaked a second time to correct a botched job and because young birds’ beaks can grow back. Used on turkeys, the Bio-Beaker is said to be “more successful” than with chickens, although “operator errors and inconsistencies have caused welfare problems for turkeys” . Perhaps the Bio-Beaker (or the laser machine) is responsible for the blackened, necrotic, crumbling beaks of baby turkeys photographed by investigators in recent visits to U.S. turkey farms.

For example, East Bay Animal Advocates (www.eastbayanimaladvocates.org) recently found horrible conditions at Diestel Turkey Ranch, a so-called “free range/organic” turkey farm in California and a supplier to Whole Foods Market, which claims to have “Animal Compassionate Standards.” The photo on page two shows young turkeys at Diestel with blackened necrotic beaks. Despite the exposure of Diestel, Whole Foods continues doing business with them.

In 1990  Michael Gentle and his associates at the Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics Research, Edinburgh, Scotland, showed that experimentally debeaked chickens demonstrated chronic pain and suffering following the operation. Gentle explains: "The avian beak is a complex sensory organ which not only serves to grasp and manipulate food particles prior to ingestion, but is also used to manipulate non-food articles in nesting behavior and exploration, drinking, preening, and as a weapon in defensive and aggressive encounters. To enable the animal to perform this wide range of activities, the beak of the chicken has an extensive nerve supply with numerous mechanoreceptors, thermoreceptors, and nociceptors [ nerve endings sensitive to mechanical pressures, heat and pain]....Beak amputation results in extensive neuromas [tumors] being formed in the healed stump of the beak which give rise to abnormal spontaneous neural activity in the trigeminal [threefold] nerve. The nociceptors present in the beak of the chicken have similar properties to those found in mammalian skin and the neural activity arising from the trigeminal neuromas is similar to that reported in the rat, mouse, cat and the baboon. Therefore, in terms of the peripheral neural activity, partial beak amputation is likely to be a painful procedure leading not only to phantom and stump pain, but also to other characteristics of the hyperpathic syndrome, such as allodynia and hyperalgesia [the stress resulting from, and extreme sensitiveness to, painful stimuli]."

Gentle and associates compared 5 behaviors in 16 experimentally debeaked Leghorn hens with the same behaviors in a control (nondebeaked) group of hens: number of bill wipes, head shakes, drinking movements, pecks directed to water and floor, and pecks directed to cage sides. In their experiment, "Partial beak amputation produced a number of significant alterations to the behavior of the birds. The birds pecked less at the environment after amputation than before and this difference can be interpreted as guarding behavior of a painful area of the body, similar to that seen in man and other animals....Guarding behavior can also be used to explain the reduction in head shaking and beak wiping following amputation. Head shaking is a behavior commonly associated with feeding and drinking and, like beak wiping, it functions to remove food particles or irritant substances from the mouth or surface of the beak....The modifications in the pecking and drinking behavior of birds following partial beak amputation [conforms with other reports] that partial beak amputation results in long-term (56 weeks) increases in dozing and general inactivity, behaviors associated with long-term chronic pain and depression."

Source: UPC

Butterball's House of Horrors

Butterball workers were documented punching and stomping on live turkeys, slamming them against walls, and worse during an undercover investigation at a Butterball slaughterhouse in Ozark, Arkansas.

One Butterball employee stomped on a bird's head until her skull exploded, another swung a turkey against a metal handrail so hard that her spine popped out, and another was seen inserting his finger into a turkey's cloaca (vagina).

One worker told an investigator: "If you jump on their stomachs right, they'll pop ... or their insides will come out of their [rectums]," and other Butterball workers frequently bragged about kicking and tormenting birds.

Read the investigators' log notes:

April 6: "Workers were cruelly slamming live birds in shackles, and one strangled a bird to death. One worker said he likes to kill birds for 'fun,' and pointed out one he had punched in the face."

April 13: "One worker was inserting his finger into a turkey's vagina [cloaca] for 'fun' during a break when the line was stopped. Another worker said he could paralyze birds by punching their necks in a certain way and demonstrated this on one bird."

April 26: "One of the more experienced and revered hangers told workers to violently slam birds into the shackles rather than just setting them in there, and did this multiple times to the same bird. He also threw birds across the room onto the concrete floor."

May 2: "One frustrated worker kicked a bird in the head and another broke a bird's neck so that her head was touching her back. He laughed about this. Another worker was slamming birds into the shackles."

May 3: "One worker swung a turkey like a baseball bat into the metal bar of the trailer. He did this again later, slamming a bird into a handrail. I could see the bird's spine and there was a lot of blood. He laughed about this."

May 8: "One worker took a live bird and stomped on her head, crushing her skull until her head exploded. He then laughed and wiped the blood from his leg. He also threw birds against the concrete and punched others."

May 16: "A worker threw birds at the concrete wall, and he and two other workers threw dead birds at the live ones."

June 5: "There was a live bird with only one leg and a bloody body in a shackle. A worker looked at her and started laughing-he had ripped her leg from her body when she became stuck between two coops."

June 8: "A worker slammed turkeys into the shackles with one hand-many missed and hit the wall."

July 13: "One worker grabbed a bird by her legs and jerked her back and forth toward another worker to tease him-the second worker grabbed her and punched her to push her back. Later, another worker grabbed the head of a live turkey poking through the coop, twisted the bird's head around and handed it to another worker, who pulled the head while the first worker punched and kicked her neck. They were trying to decapitate her."

July 25: "A worker violently threw birds into the shackles and grabbed one by her neck, and another worker humped a bird whose legs and head he had crammed into the shackle."

July 26: "One worker smashed birds into the shackles. A pool of water had collected at our ankles. The guys would throw the turkeys into the water and kick them to make them splash, then kill them to make them stop splashing."

PETA's investigators discovered these horrors between April and July, 2006, during an undercover investigation at a Butterball plant that slaughters approximately 50,000 birds each day.

Why Does This Abuse Happen?

Butterball turkeys are killed using a process that involves hanging live birds by their legs, shocking them in an electrified bath of water so that they become paralyzed (though they still feel pain), slitting their throats, and then running them through a tank of scalding-hot water for defeathering.

Because Butterball's current slaughter method gives workers access to live birds, the animals often suffer when workers become frustrated or bored and desensitized, as was the case at this Butterball plant and the other poultry plants that PETA has investigated.

Even though they constitute more than 98 percent of the land animals eaten in the United States, birds are excluded from coverage under the only federal law designed to protect animals during slaughter, the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act (HMSA).

What the Experts Say:

Animal Welfare Experts Comment on PETA’s Undercover Investigation of Butterball

Academic and professional experts in bird welfare, veterinary medicine, and slaughter systems reviewed the video footage from PETA’s undercover investigation of Butterball. Below are some of their statements:

Temple Grandin, Ph.D., P.A.S.

Dr. Grandin is perhaps the world’s leading expert on farmed-animal welfare. She is an associate professor of livestock behavior at Colorado State University and an animal welfare advisor to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the meat industry. She has designed equipment and systems that are in use in numerous slaughter facilities nationwide. Dr. Grandin states:

• "There was definitely abusive handling [at this plant]."
• "The management of this plant is obviously not training and supervising [its] employees."
• "This plant has both severe animal welfare problems and a lack of management that needs correcting."

Donald M. Broom, Ph.D.

Dr. Broom is a world-renowned expert on farmed-animal behavior and welfare. He is a professor of animal welfare in the Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge. He has served as an animal welfare advisor to governments, including serving as chair of the European Union Scientific Veterinary Committee (Animal Welfare Section). Dr. Broom states

• "Some of the incidents shown in this video are of workers' moving turkeys on to or off shackling line[s] very quickly, whilst other sequences show deliberate abuse of turkeys."
• "Grabbing birds roughly, throwing birds, forcing birds into shackles, and moving birds in such a way that the head or other parts of the body hit equipment, as shown in [the video], are all grounds for prosecution for cruelty …."
• "In [the video], a turkey is swung and hit against equipment, so that [his or her] head or body impacts with a force that would be sufficient to cause bone breakage. … [A] worker sits on a turkey, causing [the animal] to struggle and probably breaking bones and damaging internal organs. … [A] worker appears to simulate copulation with a turkey and then forces [his or her] head into a shackle designed for the legs. … Each of the persons involved was causing very poor welfare with pain and distress that was unnecessary."

Lesley Rogers, Ph.D.

Dr. Rogers founded the Research Centre for Neuroscience and Animal Behaviour in the School of Biological, Biomedical, and Molecular Sciences at the University of New England, where she is a professor of neuroscience and animal behavior. She is also a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, serves on the Australian Vice Chancellors’ Committee (Animal Research Review Panel), and has served as president of the Australian Society for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Dr. Rogers states:

• "[I]t is clear [from the video] that these birds are being handled inhumanely."
• "The behavior of the workers is unprofessional, violent, and very distressing …."
• "The birds are stressed severely and killed in a way that means they take a long time to die. Added to this, individual birds are bashed and killed in a rough and inefficient way. I was appalled to see what was going on."

Laurie Siperstein-Cook, D.V.M.

Dr. Siperstein-Cook is an avian veterinarian in Davis, California. She is an expert on bird welfare and has testified before the California Legislature on the subject. Dr. Siperstein-Cook states:

• "Workers at this plant are not following standard handling practices as part of their routine work unloading and shackling turkeys. Workers are seen violently throwing birds into shackles, including occasions where the birds miss the shackles entirely and strike the floor. One bird is grabbed by the neck and yanked into the air. This kind of treatment is likely to cause bruising and broken bones and is inconsistent with a basic regard for animal welfare. Either the plant has failed to train these workers in proper handling, or it allows such training to be completely ignored."
• "Repeated incidents of kicking and punching birds and slamming them against objects are clear incidents of cruelty to animals and do not constitute a normal or accepted agricultural practice."
• "The behavior documented at this plant is reprehensible. These individuals and anyone else responsible for allowing this behavior to continue should be prosecuted. They certainly should not be permitted to handle animals."
• "The slaughter plant apparently has created an atmosphere of tolerance for cruelty to animals. Workers openly boast about beating animals and making their eyes pop out. One worker advises the investigator to hit struggling turkeys. The workers shown abusing animals show no reluctance to mistreat animals in plain view of coworkers. A respectable facility would not tolerate a workplace culture of complete lack of regard for animal welfare as this one does. This facility has a serious animal welfare problem."

Lotta Berg, Ph.D.

Dr. Berg is a veterinary officer at the Swedish Animal Welfare Agency. She participates in expert groups on bird welfare for the European Union and is a member of the Working Group on Poultry Welfare of the European branch of the World Poultry Science Association. Dr. Berg states:

• "It is evident that the handling of the turkeys during unloading and shackling seen on the video shots provided by PETA is not in accordance with good practice."
• "Both rough handling in general … and cases of deliberate violence will cause unnecessary suffering in the birds, and it cannot be assumed that this suffering is mild or short-lasting."
• "At a very minimum, these acts of cruelty, negligence, or indifference appear to demonstrate unsatisfactory training and lack of oversight by the slaughter plant management regarding … good animal welfare practice."

Because no federal law protects chickens and turkeys slaughtered for food, no federal charges could be pursued for the cruelty to animals exposed by PETA and confirmed by the USDA's own findings. Even with overwhelming evidence, the local prosecutor declined to charge Butterball for cruelty to animals under Arkansas state law. Despite knowledge of this abuse, Butterball has failed to switch to a slaughter method that would prevent most of the abuse from happening: controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK). CAK is a process in which birds are killed with inert gas, which is far less cruel than Butterball's current killing method, which allows workers to sadistically abuse live animals and for birds to be scalded to death in defeathering tanks while they are still conscious.

Source: Peta

Learn about the truth behind free-range turkey farming

As an increasing number of consumers seek a humane and healthy substitute for industrial-raised turkey products, poultry producers are now offering free-range turkey selections. The poultry industry estimates that nearly two percent of American homes eat free-range turkeys during the holiday season.
From both animal welfare and human health standpoints, however, free-range turkey is not a viable choice for consumers seeking guilt-free meals. "Consumers can really be fooled," Mary Pitman, owner of Mary's Free-Range Turkeys, explains. "Some farms can qualify for free range, but they raise [turkeys] in the same conditions as industrial farms."
The Free-Range Fallacy 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 conventional-raised bird. University of California-Davis poultry specialist, Ralph Ernst reports: "Most free-range birds are still fenced in corrals, though people like to imagine the birds are out roaming the range. They're not out exercising. These birds are raised much like the regular turkeys."
Thousands of free-range turkeys are raised in a single warehouse-like structure (known as a grow-out shed), forced to stand on accumulated fecal waste and breathe in ammonia fumes. To prevent free-roaming birds from injuring each other in the grow-out quarters, a portion of their beaks and toes are severed without the aid of anesthesia. Ian J.H. Duncan, a professor of Poultry Ethology at the University of Guelph in Canada, says "the idea of beak trimming being a short-lived discomfort for the bird may be far from accurate. The short and long-term changes in behavior, particularly the substantial decrease in activities involving the beak and the increase in inactivity particularly in the first week after the operation, suggests that the birds are suffering severe pain."
Like their conventionally-raised cousins, free-range turkeys are typically bred to grow at an unnaturally rapid rate, resulting in permanent health problems for birds. Wild turkeys can live for nearly twenty years. However, their domesticated counterparts do not usually survive longer than two years. Free-range turkeys are slaughtered between 14 and 25 weeks of age. Reaching 'slaughter-age', turkeys are transported via multi-tiered, flat-bed trucks in overcrowded wire cages, enduring all types of weather conditions. Arriving at the slaughterhouse, the fully-conscious birds are hung by their legs and their throats are slashed. The Humane Slaughter Act and Animal Welfare Act exempt turkeys from legal protection. "People pay extra because it makes them feel better about the fate of the turkey," Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation, explains.
Tainted Turkeys Recently, high rates of Salmonella bacteria contamination have been discovered at free-range turkey processing plants. For example, one free-range plant achieved a contamination rate of 30.4 percent. Currently, the federal government has the authority to close chicken processing plants that surpass salmonella restrictions continually. "Because USDA has not set similar standards for turkey processors, even plants that ship a high percentage of contaminated turkeys don't have to worry about government enforcement action," says Caroline Smith DeWaal, the food safety director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest. DeWaal adds: "The government should set and enforce standards to reduce the amount of contaminated poultry reaching consumers...Raw poultry can still contaminate other foods in the kitchen. Consumers shouldn't have to roll the dice--especially with odds as bad as these." According to the University of Arkansas Food Safety Consortium, increased stress-levels among turkeys can be a factor in plant contamination. Overstressed birds can be susceptible to E. coli and listeria. Campylobacter contaminates turkey meat at a high rate as well. Manure exposure and insect consumption also contribute to increased bacteria levels. USDA health research indicates that there are insignificant nutritional distinctions between free-range and conventional turkeys. Cholesterol and saturated fat are found in both types of meat.

This photograph shows the pen areas for the turkey flocks.
No turkeys are shown outside.

A portion of baby turkeys' beaks and toes are severed without the aid of anesthesia.

Within the first few weeks of life, poult (baby turkey) mortality rate is extremely high.

Thousands of free-range turkeys are raised in a single warehouse-like structure (known as a grow-out shed), forced to stand on accumulated fecal waste and breathe in ammonia fumes.

Manure exposure and insect consumption can contribute to increased bacteria levels.

Like their conventionally-raised cousins, free-range turkeys are typically bred to grow at an unnaturally rapid rate, resulting in permanent health problems for birds.

Wild turkeys can live for nearly twenty years. However, their domesticated counterparts do not usually survive longer than two years. The turkey photographed above died at ten weeks of age.

Free-range turkeys are slaughtered between 14 and 25 weeks of age.

USDA guidelines do not regulate the amount of time birds spend outdoors.

University of California-Davis poultry specialist, Ralph Ernst reports: "Most free-range birds are still fenced in corrals, though people like to imagine the birds are out roaming the range. They're not out exercising. These birds are raised much like the regular turkeys."

Partial beak amputation can be performed on organic turkey flocks. Ian J.H. Duncan, a professor of Poultry Ethology at the University of Guelph in Canada, says "the idea of beak trimming being a short-lived discomfort for the bird may be far from accurate. The short and long-term changes in behavior, particularly the substantial decrease in activities involving the beak and the increase in inactivity particularly in the first week after the operation, suggests that the birds are suffering severe pain

The chart photographed shows the mortality rate of a free-range turkey flock.

This dumpster full of dead turkeys will be rendered.

Turkeys are transported via multi-tiered, flat-bed trucks in overcrowded wire cages, enduring all types of weather conditions. Over 2,000 turkeys are transported on each truck. Arriving at the slaughterhouse, the fully-conscious birds are hung by their legs and their throats are slashed.

This organic turkey hen was rescued from a free-range farm. Her beak had been partially amputated.
A year later, the same rescued turkey is grossly overweight. Due to selective breeding, she is plagued by leg and heart problems.

These rescued poults were victims of partial beak and toe amputation.

The rescued turkeys now live in private, loving homes. Please plan cruelty-free meals.

Source: East Bay Animal Advocates

Turkey Factory Farms

Every year in the United States, 300 million turkeys are killed for their flesh. Almost all spend their entire lives on factory farms and have no federal legal protection.

Turkeys raised on factory farms are hatched in large incubators and never see their mothers or feel the warmth of a nest. When they are only a few weeks old, they are moved into filthy, windowless sheds with thousands of other turkeys, where they will spend the rest of their lives. 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—imagine having the skin under your chin chopped off with a pair of scissors. Millions of turkeys don’t even make it past the first few weeks of life in a factory farm before succumbing to “starve-out,” a stress-induced condition that causes young birds to simply stop eating.
Turkeys are bred, drugged, and genetically manipulated to grow as large as possible as quickly as possible to increase profits. According to one industry publication, modern turkeys grow so quickly that if a 7 pound human baby grew at the same rate, the infant would weigh 1,500 pounds at just 18 weeks of age. Turkeys are now so obese that they cannot reproduce naturally; instead, all the turkeys who are born in the United States today are conceived through artificial insemination. Read “My Day Working as a Turkey Breeder,” a first hand account of this cruel process.The large amount of feces in the shed causes an ammonia buildup that severely burns turkeys’ skin.

Their unnaturally large size also causes many turkeys to die from organ failure or heart attacks before they are even 6 months old. According an investigative report in the Wall Street Journal about the miserable conditions on turkey farms, “It’s common in a rearing house to find a dead bird surrounded by four others whose hearts failed after they watched the first one ‘fall back and go into convulsions, with its wings flapping wildly.’” When they grow so obese that their legs can’t even support their own weight, turkeys may become crippled—some of these birds starve to death within inches of water.

When turkeys fall ill because of the filthy conditions or become crippled under their own weight, farmers walk through the shed to cull the slow-growing animals (so that they don’t eat any more food). A PETA investigation in Minnesota, the number-one turkey-producing state in the country, revealed that the manager of the farm repeatedly used a metal pipe to bludgeon 12-week-old turkeys who were lame, injured, ill, or otherwise unsuitable for slaughter and consumption. The injured birds were thrown onto piles of other dead and dying birds then tossed into a wheelbarrow for disposal. Birds who were overlooked were kicked or beaten with pliers or had their necks wrung—all in full view of other terrified birds. When the Minnesota Turkey Growers came to the defense of the farmer, the local district attorney refused to prosecute.

Transport and Slaughter

Turkeys are violently thrown into crates and are shipped to slaughter through all weather extremes. Close to 2,000 turkeys can be loaded onto a single truck headed for the slaughterhouse. The turkeys are collected by workers, who grab them by their legs and throw them into large crates. Many birds suffer broken bones in the process. The crates are then loaded onto trucks, and the birds are shipped through all weather conditions without food or water to the slaughterhouse. Millions of turkeys die every year as a result of heat exhaustion, freezing, or accidents during transport.

At the slaughterhouse, turkeys are hung upside-down by their weak and crippled legs before their heads are dragged through an electrified “stunning tank,” which immobilizes them but does not kill them. Many of the terrified birds dodge the tank and, therefore, are fully conscious when their throats are slit. If the knife fails to properly slit the birds’ throats, they are scalded alive in the tank of hot water used for feather removal.
Many turkeys’ bones or wings break when their legs are forced into shackles at slaughter.
Turkeys are intelligent, agile, and resourceful animals. When in their natural surroundings, not on factory farms, they enjoy running, building nests, and raising their young. Please don’t support an industry that abuses these fascinating animals by the millions.

Chicks. On turkey factory farms, baby chicks spend their first few weeks of life in giant, crowded incubators. When they are old enough to move to the warehouse with thousands of other turkeys, the farmers cut off the sensitive tips of their beaks, their toes, and the red flaps of skin under the males' necks, all without pain-killers. Millions of turkeys die during their first few weeks of life from disease, infection, or stress.

On turkey factory farms, baby chicks spend their first few weeks of life in giant, crowded incubators. When they are old enough to move to the warehouse with thousands of other turkeys, the farmers cut off the sensitive tips of their beaks, their toes, and the red flaps of skin under the males' necks, all without pain-killers. Millions of turkeys die during their first few weeks of life from disease, infection, or stress.

The chicks in this picture, whose flesh will be marketed as "free-range", have had their beaks painfully seared off with a hot blade, with no pain relief. Like many "free-range" and "organic" animals, these young turkeys are crowded together in a filthy shed and will not see the sun or breathe fresh air until the day they're loaded onto trucks bound for the slaughterhouse.

Debeaking. This turkey's beak has been painfully seared off with a hot blade. Baby turkeys are "debeaked" to prevent them from pecking each other out of frustration and boredom in the extremely cramped and stressful conditions on factory farms.

Factory Farms. After they are debeaked, turkeys are crammed into enormous sheds: The air is laden with ammonia and is filled with particulate dust from feces and feathers that grates their lungs with every breath. Turkeys are bred and drugged to grow so quickly they often become crippled under their own weight. In fact, modern turkeys are so top-heavy that they can no longer mate naturally; all turkeys used for their flesh are the products of forced artificial insemination.

Neck-Breaking. A PETA undercover investigation into a Minnesota factory turkey farm revealed that the farm manager was violently strangling young birds and haphazardly bludgeoning dozens of others with what he called his “killing stick.” This method of killing birds was deemed acceptable by the turkey industry.

"Free Range" Farms. Labels like "free range" and "free roaming" are not regulated by the government, so any product can wear these labels no matter how badly the animals have been treated. This turkey died on a "free range" farm and her corpse was shoved into a dumpster.

Sick and Injured Turkeys. Many turkeys develop large, festering wounds as a result of the high levels of caustic chemicals like ammonia and hydrogen sulfide in the air. These chemicals emanate from the enormous amounts of feces in the sheds. Many factory farmed turkeys die from these wounds and other infections, and their bodies are sometimes left in the sheds with the survivors for days or weeks before they're finally thrown in the trash.

Sick and Injured Turkeys. In addition to several painful chemical burns caused by the high levels of caustic chemicals found on factory farms, this turkey is also suffering from a broken wing. Sick and injured animals are not humanely euthanized to end their suffering; instead chickens and turkeys are violently thrown into transport trucks and arrive at slaughter with broken wings and legs—sick and dying animals are still be profitable for the industry.

Beating Sick Birds. A PETA undercover investigation into a Minnesota factory turkey farm revealed the farm manager viciously beating sick and injured birds with what he called his "killing stick." He did this because it is cheaper to kill sick birds than to give them proper veterinary care. This method of killing birds was deemed acceptable by the turkey industry.

Dead Turkeys. The filthy and stressful conditions on factory farms lead to extremely high mortality rates. Millions of turkeys don't make it past the first few weeks before succumbing to "starve-out," a stress-induced condition that causes young birds to simply stop eating. Some die of pneumonia or other respiratory illness aggravated by the high levels of ammonia in the sheds; others die of dehydration or starve to death after their legs give out under their drug-induced bulk and they are unable to reach food.

Dead Turkeys. The filthy and stressful conditions on factory farms lead to extremely high mortality rates. This dead turkey is violently tossed onto the back of a truck headed for a rendering plant. Her body will be made into dog or cat food or into feed that will be fed back to other farmed animals.

Transport. After about six months, the animals are grabbed by their delicate legs and slammed into crates on transport trucks, where they will travel for many miles through all weather extremes without food or water to the slaughterhouse. Many turkeys die before they reach their final destination. There are no laws regulating the transport of farmed animals on trucks. People who live near factory farms or slaughterhouses often reports seeing dead or dying animals who have fallen off trucks on the side of the road.

Transport. After about six months, the animals are grabbed by their delicate legs and slammed into crates on transport trucks, where they will travel for many miles through all weather extremes without food or water to the slaughterhouse. Many turkeys die before they reach their final destination. There are no laws regulating the transport of farmed animals on trucks. People who live near factory farms or slaughterhouses often reports seeing dead or dying animals who have fallen off trucks on the side of the road.

Transport. Turkeys are slammed into tiny transport crates and forced to endure lengthy trips to slaughter. They travel through all weather extremes without food or water and many die before they reach their final destination. There are no laws regulating the transport of farmed animals on trucks. People who live near factory farms or slaughterhouses often reports seeing dead or dying animals who have fallen off trucks on the side of the road.

Transport. During transport, turkeys are crammed into open-sided trucks and endure long journeys through all weather extremes. Millions freeze to death or die of heat exhaustion. Traffic accidents during transport are common; injured birds who survive the accidents but are in severe pain from broken legs or wings or other injuries are thrown back into the trucks to be sent on to the slaughterhouse.

Slaughter. At the slaughterhouse, turkeys' sensitive legs are snapped into shackles and they are hung upside down. They are often still completely conscious and struggling to escape when their throats are cut open. Some turkeys miss the neck-cutter, and these terrified birds are still alive when they are dunked into the scalding water of the defeathering tanks.

Slaughter. Many turkeys arrive at the slaughterhouse with broken bones, severe bruises, and wounds. There they are hung upside-down by their sensitive legs, which are forced into metal shackles. They are often still conscious and struggling to escape when their throats are slit, and some are still conscious when they’re dumped into scalding-hot water for feather removal.

Slaughter. This turkey appears to be fully conscious and bleeding from her neck. At the slaughterhouse, turkeys' sensitive legs are snapped into shackles and they are hung upside down. They are often still completely conscious and struggling to escape when their throats are cut open. Some turkeys miss the neck-cutter, and these terrified birds are still alive when they are dunked into the scalding water of the defeathering tanks.

Breaking Investigation Reveals Holiday Horrors for Turkeys

More than 72 million of the nearly 270 million turkeys killed for food every year in the U.S. are slaughtered for holiday meals. This year, just prior to the flesh-focused Thanksgiving holiday, PETA conducted an undercover investigation lasting more than two months at the factory farms of Aviagen Turkeys, Inc., the self-proclaimed "world's leading poultry breeding company."

While working at a series of Aviagen factory farms in West Virginia, PETA's investigator documented that workers tortured, mutilated, and maliciously killed turkeys. The following are just a few of the documented offenses:

• Employees stomped on turkeys' heads, punched turkeys, hit them on the head with a can of spray paint and pliers, and struck turkeys' heads against metal scaffolding.
  
• Men shoved feces and feed into turkeys' mouths and held turkeys' heads under water. Another bragged about jamming a broom stick 2 feet down a turkey's throat.
  
• A supervisor said he saw workers kill 450 turkeys with 2-by-4s.
  
• One man said he saw a coworker fatally inject turkey semen and sulfuric acid into turkeys' heads.

PETA's investigator repeatedly brought abuses to a supervisor's attention. The supervisor responded, "Every once in a while, everybody gets agitated and has to kill a bird." PETA also brought the abuse to the attention of Aviagen, and although the company made assurances and instituted some new rules, the cruelty did not stop. PETA's investigator also saw disgusting, cramped conditions. The rotting remains of about 70 hens were left amid live birds—who had to climb over the dead—for more than a day. A supervisor urinated in turkey pens, and workers spat tobacco in the pens as well. The suffering typically found on factory farms was also routine in Aviagen's sheds: Hens' beaks were cut with pliers, massive birds collapsed and died of exhaustion or heart attacks, and turkeys were thrown into transport cages.

Watch the video:

Please also write to the National Turkey Federation and urge it to recommend that all turkey breeders implement PETA's seven-point animal welfare plan.

Those who eat turkeys are supporting this cruelty. Please help PETA put an end to this suffering by leaving turkeys off your plate and by supporting PETA's work in behalf of animals.

One of twelve men—including three supervisors—who forcefully threw turkeys into coops for transport.
One of four men who was seen stomping on turkeys' heads.

An employee bends a turkey's head and neck back as he tries repeatedly to break it. It took him four attempts before he was successful.
A baby turkey who had become trapped in a transport box and likely slowly died when no one noticed him.


A baby turkey rests in the hand of PETA's investigator.

Turkeys were confined to overcrowded, dusty factory farms by the thousands.

‘Life and Death for Factory-Farmed Turkeys,’ With Shirley Jones

Shirley Jones, matriarch of The Partridge Family, exposes cruelty to turkeys on factory farms and in slaughterhouses.

Top 10 Reasons Not to Eat Turkeys

These beautiful, inquisitive, intelligent birds endure lives of suffering and painful deaths. Here are 10 good reasons to carve out a new tradition by flocking to vegetarian entrées, along with some scrumptious holiday cooking tips and recipes—thankfully, none of them require stuffing food up anyone's behind.

1) They're Begging Your Pardon
Turkeys are “smart animals with personality and character, and keen awareness of their surroundings,” Oregon State University poultry scientist Tom Savage says. Turkeys are social, playful birds who enjoy the company of others. They relish having their feathers stroked and like to chirp, cluck, and gobble along to their favorite tunes. Anyone who spends time with them at farm sanctuaries quickly learns that turkeys are as varied in personality as dogs and cats. The president “pardons” a turkey every year—can't you pardon one too? Learn more about turkeys.

2) Get Rid of Your Wattle
Turkey flesh is brimming with fat. Just one homemade patty of ground, cooked turkey meat contains a whopping 244 mg of cholesterol, and half of its calories come from fat. Research has shown that vegetarians are 50 percent less likely to develop heart disease, and they have 40 percent of the cancer rate of meat-eaters. Plus, meat-eaters are nine times more likely to be obese than vegans are. Learn more about animal products and your health.

3) Can You Spell ‘Pandemic’?
Experts are warning that a virulent new strain of bird flu could spread to human beings and kill millions of Americans. The Bush administration is trying to deal with the problem, but experts warn that current factory-farm conditions, in which turkeys are drugged up and bred to grow so quickly they can barely walk, are a prescription for disease outbreaks. Eating a turkey carcass contaminated with bird flu could kill you, and currently available drugs might not work. Cooking should kill the virus, but it could be left behind on cutting boards and utensils and spread through something else you're eating.

4) Recall Process Doesn't Fly
The U.S. government is the only government in the Western world that does not have the power to recall contaminated animal products. Instead, American consumers must trust the profit-hungry meat, dairy, and egg industries to decide when recalls are necessary. Dan Glickman, secretary of agriculture under President Bill Clinton, explained that this limit on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) power to protect consumers from tainted animal products is “one of the biggest loopholes out there.” There are all sorts of killer bacteria found in turkey flesh, including salmonella and campylobacter. The Center for Science in the Public Interest found that 28 percent of fresh turkeys were contaminated with bacteria, primarily with campylobacter, for which the USDA does not even require testing. Learn more about meat contamination.

5) Let the Turkeys Give Thanks!
Let's face it: If you're eating a turkey, that's a corpse you've got there on the table, and if you don't eat it quickly enough, it will decompose. Is that really what we want as the centerpiece of a holiday meal: an animal's dead and decaying carcass? Thanksgiving is a time to take stock of our lives and give thanks for all that we have, so why not let the turkeys give thanks too?

6) Want Stuffing With Your Supergerms?
Dosing turkeys with antibiotics to stimulate their growth and to keep them alive in filthy, disease-ridden conditions that would otherwise kill them poses even more risks for people who eat them. Leading health organizations—including the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association, and the American Public Health Association—have warned that by giving powerful drugs (via animal products) to humans who are not sick, the farmed-animal industry is creating possible long-term risks to human health and will spread antibiotic-resistant supergerms. That's why the use of drugs to promote growth in animals used for food has been banned for many years in Europe.

7) Without a Wing and a Prayer
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 in waste, and urine and ammonia fumes burn their eyes and lungs. At the slaughterhouse, turkeys have their throats slit while they are still conscious. Those who miss the automated knife are scalded to death in the defeathering tank.

8) Foul Farming
Anyone who has driven by a farm has probably smelled it first from a mile away. Turkeys and other animals raised for food produce 130 times as much excrement as the entire U.S. human population—all without the benefit of waste treatment systems. There are no federal guidelines to regulate how factory farms treat, store, and dispose of the trillions of pounds of concentrated, untreated animal excrement that they produce each year.

9) Blood, Sweat, and Fear
Killing animals is inherently dangerous work, but the fast line speeds, the dirty, slippery killing floors, and the lack of training make animal-processing plants some of the most dangerous places to work in America today. The industry has refused to slow down the lines or buy appropriate safety gear because these changes could cut into companies’ bottom lines. In its 185-page exposé on worker exploitation by the farmed-animal industry, “Blood, Sweat, and Fear: Workers’ Rights in U.S. Meat and Poultry Plants,” Human Rights Watch explains, ‘These are not occasional lapses by employers paying insufficient attention to modern human resources management policies. These are systematic human rights violations embedded in meat and poultry industry employment.”

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Turkeys

Ben Franklin called turkeys “true American originals.” He had tremendous respect for their resourcefulness, agility, and beauty.¹ Turkeys are intelligent animals who enjoy having their feathers stroked and listening to music, with which they will often sing quite loudly.² In nature, turkeys can fly 55 miles an hour, run 25 miles an hour, and live up to four years.
But the story’s very different for turkeys on factory farms: They will be killed when they are only 5 or 6 months old, and during their short lives, they will be denied even the simplest pleasures, like running, building nests, and raising their young.

Like chickens, the 300 million turkeys raised and killed for their flesh every year in the United States have no federal legal protection.⁴ Thousands of turkeys are crammed into filthy sheds after their beaks and toes are burned off with a hot blade. Many suffer heart failure or debilitating leg pain, often becoming crippled under the weight of their genetically manipulated and drugged bodies. When the time comes for slaughter, they are thrown into transport trucks, and when they arrive at the slaughterhouse, their throats are cut and their feathers burned off—often while they are still fully conscious.

The Hidden Lives of Turkeys

Many people think of turkeys as little more than a holiday centerpiece, but turkeys are social, playful birds who enjoy the company of others. They relish having their feathers stroked and like to chirp, cluck, and gobble along to their favorite tunes. Anyone who spends time with them on farm sanctuaries quickly learns that turkeys are as varied in personality as dogs and cats.When not forced to live on filthy factory farms, turkeys spend their days caring for their young, building nests, foraging for food, taking dustbaths, preening themselves, and roosting high in trees. Read on to learn more fascinating turkey facts.

Talkin’ Turkey

• Ben Franklin had tremendous respect for their resourcefulness, agility, and beauty—he called the turkey “a bird of courage” and “a true original native of America.” Franklin even suggested naming the turkey, instead of the eagle, as our national bird.
  
• Turkeys have been genetically modified to gain weight rapidly because fatter turkeys mean fatter wallets for farmers. But in nature, the turkey’s athletic prowess is truly impressive. Wild turkeys can fly at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour and run at speeds of up to 15 miles per hour. The natural lifespan of the turkey is between 10 and 12 years, but on factory farms they are slaughtered when they’re just 5 months old.
  
• Male turkeys, or “toms,” are bigger and have more colorful plumage than female turkeys, or “hens.” The males attract females with their wattles, colorful flaps of skin around their necks, and tufts of bristles that hang from their chests.
  
• Turkeys are born with full-color vision just like our own, and in nature they stay with their mothers for up to the first five months of their lives. These gentle birds are very bonded to their young—in the wild, a mother turkey will courageously defend her family against predators.
  
• Many respected researchers have spoken out on behalf of this intelligent, social bird. Oregon State University poultry scientist Tom Savage says, “I've always viewed turkeys as smart animals with personality and character, and keen awareness of their surroundings. The ‘dumb’ tag simply doesn’t fit.”
  
• Even a popular turkey-hunting guide admits that turkeys are far from feather-brained. According to the Remington Guide to Turkey Hunting, turkeys will “test your wits as they are rarely tested in modern life.”
  
• Erik Marcus, the author of Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating, has spent a considerable amount of time with turkeys on farm sanctuaries. He reports, “Turkeys remember your face and they will sit closer to you with each day you revisit. Come back day after day and, before long, a few birds will pick you out as their favorite and they will come running up to you whenever you arrive. It’s definitely a matter of the birds choosing you rather than of you choosing the birds. Different birds choose different people.”

Nothing to Be Thankful for

More than 45 million turkeys are killed each year at Thanksgiving, and more than 22 million die at Christmas.

Before ending up as holiday centerpieces, these gentle, intelligent birds spend five to six months on factory farms where thousands of them are packed into dark sheds with no more than 3.5 square feet of space per bird. Turkeys on factory farms are denied everything that is natural to them, such as foraging for food, dustbathing, and raising their young.To keep the overcrowded birds from scratching and pecking each other to death, workers cut off portions of the birds’ toes and upper beaks with hot blades and de-snood the males (the snood is the flap of skin that runs from the beak to the chest). No pain relievers are used during any of these procedures.

Turkeys are genetically bred to grow as fast as possible, and they often become crippled under their own weight. A PETA investigator videotaped one turkey farmer beating sick and injured birds to death with a pole, a killing method deemed “standard industry practice.”

Turkeys won’t breathe fresh air or feel the sun on their backs until they’re shoved onto trucks bound for slaughter. They are transported for hours without food or water through all weather extremes—and many will die on this nightmarish journey.

At the slaughterhouse, the survivors are hung upside-down by their weak and crippled legs before their heads are dragged through an electrified “stunning tank,” which immobilizes but does not kill them. Many birds dodge the tank and are still fully conscious when their throats are slit. If the knife fails to properly cut the birds’ throats, they are scalded alive in the tank of boiling water used for feather removal.

Please don’t support an industry that abuses these fascinating animals

Source: PETA