Thanksgiving is a time in which individuals and communities reflect on all that they are grateful for. Per tradition, families gather around the dinner table and feast on turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and the likes. Although this year Thanksgiving looks a little different, with strict coronavirus guidelines preventing large family gatherings, the tradition of turkey and giving thanks remains the same. One thing that continuously goes unrecognized, however, is the source of the traditional turkey we eat. Whether or not you are a meat-lover or a vegetarian, we all must consider where our Thanksgiving turkey came from and how it was sourced, and we should all be thankful for the turkey on our plate. Every Thanksgiving, an estimate of around 46 million turkeys are killed for America’s consumption. But unlike the media portrays, these turkeys are not slaughtered cleanly or ethically. This is specifically because turkeys and chickens are exempt from the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, which excludes their slaughter from being overseen or controlled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This leads to inhumane living conditions, transportation, and slaughter of turkeys across the US, especially around Thanksgiving time. Leading up to their death, turkeys are overfed, overcrowded, and under-exercised, their beaks bound, and their legs subject to deformities and skeletal disorders. They spend their five months of life confined to enclosed incubators and cages, the opposite of the natural environment that cage-free or wild turkeys live in. Transportation of turkey livestock is also extremely cruel, where up to 2,000 turkeys are loaded onto one truck and thrown into cramped, uninsulated crates. They often suffer from broken bones, heat exhaustion, freezing temperatures, and stress, among countless other things. The actual slaughter process is equally as inhumane and heartbreaking. We must learn to look past our traditional Thanksgiving turkey dishes and sympathize with these birds, recognizing the unfair brutalities that they are subject to. After identifying the cruelty of the slaughter process of turkeys around Thanksgiving time, the public must take action to change the painful fates of these millions of turkeys. So what can we do as consumers and as the general public? First of all, petitioning for the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act (HMSA) to be amended to include chicken, turkey, and other poultry can help bring the entire poultry industry one step closer to more humane practices. However, this policy change requires a lot of leverage, as the USDA claims that covering poultry under HMSA would require Congress to rewrite the law as a whole. This will take time and effort, and can only be achieved if the public works cohesively to expose and petition the existing HMSA laws. As for a more plausible, short-term plan, consumers should consider converting to vegetarian substitutes for the dish, or simply becoming more cognizant of where your meat is coming from. Knowing where your turkey is sourced from, and making sure it's ethically sourced and preferably cage-free, is crucial in bettering the lives of millions of birds annually. This Thanksgiving, let us not forget to give thanks to the turkeys on our tables, and to be aware of how they got there. Happy Thanksgiving, Raiders! Bibliography: Los Angeles Times Editorial Board. (2017, November 22). Editorial: There's a grim reality behind your Thanksgiving turkey. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-turkey-slaughter-20171122-story.html Nosowitz, D. (2018, October 18). Poultry Aren't Listed Under the Humane Slaughter Rule. Why? Retrieved November 24, 2020, from https://modernfarmer.com/2017/12/poultry-arent-listed-humane-slaughter-rule/ PETA. (2016, November 15). The Hidden Lives of Turkeys. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/factory-farming/turkeys/hidden-lives-turkeys/ PETA. (2013, October 14). Turkey Transport and Slaughter. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/factory-farming/turkeys/turkey-transport-slaughter/ - Maya Schwartz If you want to write for the Crescent Crier, we would love to see you at one of our virtual meetings, which are every Wednesday at 1:30pm! To come to a meeting, fill out this form: https://forms.gle/TrQ5PqFcDqeE2yiB9, and we’ll send you a link ASAP. If you would like to submit a single article - or anything else like creative writing, an opinion, an art piece, photo or photo series, or something else entirely - then you can do that using this form: https://forms.gle/WAHSoWJuVwK3q5du6. If you want to contact us for any reason, you can email
[email protected]. Thanks for reading!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |