Thanksgiving and Turkeys

A California turkey farm

Yesterday, continuing a long-standing tradition, U.S. President Barack Obama pardoned two turkeys, Apple and Cider, at the White House. The birds will live out the rest of their short lives at Mount Vernon, the Virginia estate of George Washington, despite a petition signed by 14,000 people urging Obama to send the turkeys to Farm Sanctuary. At Farm Sanctuary, the turkeys tend to live 4-5 years instead of the usual one year lifespan of the pardoned turkeys who have gone to Disney theme parks in recent years.

And like last year, Obama had to joke about the turkeys:

He explained the process that led to the birds' selection: two turkeys from a California ranch won the high-stakes competition by strutting to music before a panel of judges. "Only one pair would survive and win the big prize: life and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington," Obama said to laughter.

I don't find it funny that 45 million turkeys were slaughtered for Thanksgiving, and that 2 turkeys were spared that fate because they won a convoluted beauty pageant.

Speaking of turkeys, the Humane Society of the US has just released an undercover video shot at the Willmar Poultry Company turkey hatchery, showing how baby turkeys are cruelly debeaked and get their toes cut off. Injured, forgotten birds lay on the floor for hours. Unwanted "poults" are thrown into a grinding machine, often while they are alive and fully concious. Half of the turkeys sold in the U.S. started life at Willmar. Of course, the company president says that some employees violated the company's animal welfare policies, and says, "We condemn any mistreatment of the animals in our care." Really? Then why do they sell the baby birds to companies that will slaughter them? And are they going to deny that they regularly debeak the birds and cut their toes off? Deny that they own a machine designed to grind birds?

This is why I find "humane meat" so baffling. If you wanted to treat the animals humanely, you wouldn't slaughter them. You wouldn't exploit and use them.

I think eating animals makes people feel uneasy. That's why, when you say you're vegetarian or vegan, people respond with, "Well, I'm eating less meat these days . . ." That's why they want "humane meat" and that's why everyone has to laugh when the president "pardons" a turkey, even though we all know that the turkey did nothing wrong. And it's why newspapers publish articles like, "More Than You Need to Know About Today's Turkeys," which explains how commercially bred turkeys are so large they can't mate naturally, but not in a this-is-what's-wrong-with-factory-farming way, but in a "turkey facts to ponder as dinner roasts on Thursday" way.

To be clear: I'm not saying we should eat wild turkeys or that we need more regulation of turkey hatcheries. The horrors of factory farming are additional reasons for going vegan. Not reasons for humane meat or more regulation.

But I am thankful for everyone who is working for turkeys and all animals. And I am hopeful. Every year, I see more vegan Thanksgiving events, both on Thanksgiving Day and on the weekends before and after. And this year, I saw the first supermarket chain to offer a free Tofurky for Thanksgiving. I know we have a lot of work ahead of us, and we are making strides.

Thanks to Paul Shapiro of HSUS for the link.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Suggested Links:

• Obama's Lipstick on a Pig Comment
• Moving Beyond the Rhetoric of Apology
• We're Not Crazy
• Animal Rights Activists - Hypocrites or Extremists

Follow Me on Twitter