turkey talk

Of course it's hard not to talk about turkey today given that it's Thanksgiving in the United States (in Canada we celebrate it a month earlier), and obviously any blog devoted to animal rights is probably not in favour of killing these birds, but to be honest I never gave much thought to turkeys at all before I became vegan. In fact, I never gave any thought to how any animal eventually arrived on my plate and I suspect most other people don't either. But the whole process of how we treat animals before and during slaughter will be the subject of future posts as today I'm just going to throw out a few turkey tidbits (from Ingrid Newkirk's Making Kind Choices) at you. Did you know that wild turkeys:

• can blush? (they change skin colour to reflect changes in their feelings)
• can be personable and friendly?
• can run 25 miles per hour and fly up to 55 miles per hour over short distances?
• have a 270-degree field of vision and excellent hearing?
• tense up when afraid and get stressed when slaughtered? (um, wouldn't you?)

Okay, I've changed my mind. Came across Farm Sanctuary's Adopt-a-Turkey Project, and they have information on what factory farming for turkeys is really like. So if you're going to eat turkey this Thanksgiving then at least be aware of what they have to go through. Better yet, save a life and have a cruelty-free feast instead!