10 reasons turkey should be kept off your plate this Christmas

This Christmas day, millions of people will be devouring turkey on their plates, seemingly unaware that they are supporting a cruel industry that exploits these fascinating and intelligent animals for human gain. Did you know that turkeys are excellent problem-solvers? They are also great at geography, are inquisitive and emotional, and love to play. Yet almost all turkeys spend their lives on factory farms – they’re artificially hatched in incubators and live their days in crowded sheds, waiting for the day of their slaughter.

It’s a ruthless tradition, so I’ve pulled together 10 good reasons to carve out a new one instead.

Turkeys are incredibly intelligent and social animals
Turkeys are, by nature, highly curious and intelligent creatures. They form strong emotional ties to family members and friends, and even with other animals and humans. The Atlantic article ‘Consider the Turkey’ reports that researchers “found that when an individual turkey is removed from his flock, even in domesticity, he’ll squawk in obvious protest until reunited with his posse.” They are snuggly creatures and love having their feathers stroked. They also dance when they see people they recognise and love to kick balls around!

Eating turkey increases your risk of heart disease
To this date, eating a whole-foods, plant-based diet remains the single diet shown to reverse coronary heart disease. Plant-based diets are typically high in antioxidants, micronutrients, and fibre, which are associated with decreased heart failure rates. On top of this, numerous studies have concluded that higher intakes of saturated fat and meat volumes are correlated with higher incidences of coronary artery disease.

Eating turkey increases your risk of cancer
A largescale study conducted investigated the rates of cancer incidence in over 34,000 vegetarians and omnivores. What they found is that the people who did not eat poultry, as well as meat and fish, had exponentially decreased rates of prostate, colon and bladder cancer. Additionally, a large study published in the British Journal of Cancer concluded that the rates of malignant neoplasms was lower amongst vegetarians than meat-eaters. The most distinctive findings were the low risk for cancers of the lymphatic and haematopoietic tissues amongst vegetarians. To top it off, another prospective study discovered that the higher the amount of plant-based products individuals consumed, the lower the risk of cancer.

It’s no life for a living animal
Being bred to be slaughtered is not a form of life. Most farms house turkeys in dark sheds that are so crowded it’s impossible to even stretch a wing. The turkeys sit in waste and urine for months at a time, ingesting harmful gases from lack of ventilation. In nature, turkeys love foraging, building nests for homes and exploring their large natural territories. In farms, any sense of their normal nature is deprived and stripped from them.

Turkeys are loving, nurturing mothers
When turkey eggs are getting ready to hatch, mothers refuse to leave their nest. Once their babies hatch, they immediately form very strong bonds, and their mothers keep them close beneath their wings until they are capable of foraging for themselves. The young severely panic if they happen to get separated from their mothers, and cry out until they are returned to one another. Due to the artificial insemination that occurs in turkey farms, this close-knit bond is destroyed. The turkey young are raised in incubators, never to be connected to their mother.

Turkey consumption increases risk of ingesting e-coli
Did you know that 85% of Urinary Tract Infections are caused by a bacteria called e. coli, regularly found in poultry. The most likely cause of this is that the drug resistant e. coli is exacerbated on the farms due to overuse of antimicrobials during food animal production. In fact, 9/10 turkey samples in the US are found positive for e. coli - these statistics are yet to be released for Australia.

Turkey consumption increases risk of contracting salmonella
Similarly, the overcrowding and lack of ventilation in the turkey farms are breeding grounds for horrific bacteria, including salmonella. A recent outbreak of salmonella linked to turkey meat made 164 people seriously sick. What’s even more horrifying is that salmonella is MULTI drug resistant, meaning it is resistant to more than one strain of antibiotic.

Turkeys suffer from inhumane slaughter methods
99% of farmed turkeys are raised on factory farms. Electrical stunning is a common method to knock the turkeys unconscious before they are killed – yet this method results in the animals suffering fits, similar to epilepsy. To determine the animals are unconscious, the farmers push on their corneas to see if they react. If not, another bout of stunning is conducted. Unfortunately, the currents are often too low to render the birds unconscious. The turkeys then have their throats slit by a rotating blade. Humane slaughter does not exist – there is no humane way to kill an animal that does not want to die.

Eating turkey is bad for the environment
Turkey farms are not only places of extreme cruelty, they also harm the air, land and water quality where they are located. This is for several reasons, once of which is that the mass animal waste runoff contributes to severely raised levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, bacteria and other pathogens which leaches into the soil and the waterways, resulting in the degradation of our ecosystems.

The turkey alternatives are endless
It’s time that we create new Christmas traditions to pass down through our families. There are an abundance of plant-based Christmas roasts now readily available, that are deliciously tasty yet also completely cruelty free. You’ll be helping your waistline, and also making impactful decisions that really promote good in our world. If you’re stuck for ideas, check out my article on Cruelty Free Christmas Food Ideas.