Turkeys

We’re rapidly approaching the most festive day of the year, where millions of people will gather to celebrate, be merry, and feast! Which is not good news for turkeys. Traditionally a key component of these festivities, their bodies form the centrepieces of Christmas dinner tables around the world.

I’ve often heard people describe turkey meat as ‘dry’, or ‘a bit tough’, or simply that they don’t like it that much. Nevertheless, they dutifully buy and cook the meat that they don’t especially like – in the name of tradition – every single year. These gentle, intelligent birds have a natural lifespan of around 10 years, but for Christmas 2025, we’ve slaughtered millions of them, at a mere 3-6 months old. The mass killing of innocent creatures who experienced nothing but suffering in their short lives is a very strange way to mark a day that supposedly celebrates love, peace and new life.  

In their natural habitat, turkeys are chatty, curious and playful birds. Much like wild chickens, they live in family groups and have strict social hierarchies. They have an array of vocalisations to communicate with each other, they’re speedy runners, and can fly at up to 55mph, since in the wild they roost in trees.  

However life for turkeys in industrial farms is a very different story. Far from being able to engage in their natural behaviours of preening, scratching and foraging, they’re barely able to move; cramped into barren, windowless sheds 25,000 at a time. Much as with chickens who are reared for meat, unscrupulous breeding practices now see turkeys who would weigh around 7.5kg naturally, reaching a horrific 25kg in just a few months – so farmers can profit from the maximum amount of meat with minimal rearing costs. A body growing at this rate is grossly unnatural, and turkeys suffer in the process, from joints that can’t properly support their frames, and lameness and broken legs from being unable to handle the weight placed upon them.   

This limitation to mobility even hinders the ability for turkeys to mate, which is obviously an industry requirement, so farm workers will restrain the males, ‘stimulate’ them in a process known as ‘milking’ (a term one can only imagine was put into place to avoid labelling the repulsive process as what it actually is) and then hang the females upside down and artificially inseminate them with the semen they’ve extracted. This process is highly distressing for both sexes, frequently resulting in injury. 

As well as the physical strain of confinement, turkeys also suffer mentally. Bored and frustrated in these cramped, unnatural living conditions, they will peck at each other's feathers and eyes and even engage in cannibalism. Industry attempts to curb these behaviours include beak trimming when the turkey is a few days old – a practice of blunting the sensitive beak tip so that it’s less sharp and can inflict less damage. This procedure itself, however, can be very painful on sensitive nerve endings and cause lifelong discomfort, as well as hindering the ability to feed. 

Once large enough to be profitable, turkeys are roughly transported to slaughterhouses in crates, where they’re either gassed to death or shackled upside down and moved along a conveyor, where their heads are passed through electrified water baths before their throats are cut and they bleed out. Many are still alive as they’re then dunked into scalding tanks and have their feathers plucked out. Animal Justice Project’s undercover investigation at Pastures Poultry showed that even in ‘high welfare’ operations, this level of pain and suffering is experienced by countless innocent birds. 

If you add turkey to your plate this festive season, you’re contributing to the supply-and-demand nature of this industry and perpetuating a completely unnecessary cycle of exploitation and suffering. The good news is that there are countless compassionate alternatives that taste delicious and don’t cost another being their life.

If you've previously enjoyed the taste of turkey meat but don’t want to fund the practices just described, there are numerous, incredibly realistic substitutes that are made exactly for people like you – so you can still have the flavour you’re accustomed to and don’t feel that you’re compromising or missing out. And for people who’d rather put turkeys out of their mind entirely, there are amazing vegetable-based dishes both ready-made in supermarkets, and in easy-to-follow recipes all over the internet! 

Please choose kindness this festive season. It’s one meal for you, but it’s a turkey’s entire life.