Did you know .. that there is no such thing as “humane slaughter”? (11/23/15)
*Did you know that turkeys are excluded from all so-called “humane slaughter laws”? This means that at most commercial slaughterhouses (where over 99% of all Thanksgiving turkeys are “processed” – a.k.a. murdered), turkeys are merely dragged headfirst through electrified water carrying enough current to paralyze them, not to desensitize them to pain, but rather to make it easier to thereafter slit their throats.
*Did you now that a well-documented result of this practice is that millions of turkeys every year miss the automated throat-cutter and are dumped fully conscious into a vat of scalding water (used to loosen their feathers for removal), literally drowning them to death while they are simultaneously boiled alive?
*Did you know that almost all “humanely slaughtered” turkeys (including those deemed “free range”) still are raised in horribly cramped, highly unsanitary conditions, and still have their beaks seared off and their toes clipped without anesthesia – a process that Ian Duncan (Professor of Poultry Ethology at the University of Guelph) calls “severely painful”?
*Did you know that even the turkeys that are slaughtered by smaller operations that are “certified humane” or “high welfare”, they are still killed either via electrocution or having their throats slit while they hang upside down in a “kill cone”?
[To be fair, and so you can judge for yourself, I found a video that portrays the “most humane” way possible to kill a turkey, and have included its link in the first comment box below.]
*Did you know that a severed head can remain conscious and aware for up to thirty seconds?
*Did you know that, no matter how “humanely” a turkey might be slaughtered, its murder takes place when it is but a child? — (Turkeys have an average lifespan of 10-12 years.)
*Did you know that there is no uniformly accepted definition of the term “humane”? This means that, under USDA-approved welfare labels, farms and producers decide independently what practices they will call “humane,” and the USDA then merely verifies that the company follows its own arbitrary standards.
*Did you know that there are no requirements for animals to have access to the outside under the American Humane Certified label?
*Did you know that American Humane Certified actually awarded humane labeling certification in 2014 to Butterball Turkey – and this despite the fact that, only a few short months beforehand, Butterball hatcheries were blasted by an undercover operation that exposed horrific abuse and gross mutilations of their turkeys?
*Did you know that there is an ACTUAL definition of the word “humane”, and that this definition states as follows: 1. “Having or showing compassion or benevolence … Characterized by kindness, mercy, or compassion”?
*Did you know that it is not necessary for you to eat animal products at all to live a long (actually, far longer) and healthy (actually, far healthier) life?
*Did you know that it is impossible to be truly humane while harming another being unnecessarily?
*And did you know that it is NOT necessary you to eat turkey this Thursday to have a fantastically Joy-full & peace-full Thanksgiving?
Well … now you do.
Please act accordingly … Thank you.
“Prevalent in our society are some deep misconceptions about turkeys: that they lack intelligence, that they don’t have personalities, that there can be no kinship between humans and these animals who appear so very different from us … No one who meets these bright, charismatic birds in person could doubt that turkeys are individuals with minds, feelings, and unique characters – individuals with whom we can have connections, individuals with whom we can share friendship, individuals who suffer immensely when we abuse and murder them.” ~ inspired by Susie Coston
;