Dept. of People for the Equitable Treatment of Turkeys
The following was faxed to us from FARM (Farm Animal Reform Movement), a national, tax-exempt, educational organization advocating a plant-based diet and humane treatment of farm animals through grassroots programs.
Top 10 reasons to skip the turkey on Thanksgiving
10. You’ll be able to dance circles around bloated, cholesterol-dazed Uncle Ned.
9. Animal advocates, including some of your best friends, will love you.
8. You won’t have to call the Poultry Hotline to keep your family alive.
7. Commercial turkeys are too fat to have sex. It could happen to you.
6. You won’t spend sleepless nights wondering how the turkey lived.
5. You won’t spend sleepless nights wondering how the turkey died.
4. Fruit and vegetables don’t carry government warnings.
3. You are what you eat. Who wants to be a "Butterball?"
2. You won’t be too sleepy to watch the football game.
1. You won’t send a mixed message to you kids.
The birds do exact revenge. Their flesh is laced with cholesterol, saturated fats, hormones, antibodies, and deadly pathogens. Avoiding acute illness requires careful adherence to federal warning labels or Poultry Hotline directions. Much of the 10 billion pounds of manure generated by 7,300 turkey farms in 33 states winds up in our drinking water. Finally, the grain fed to turkeys is denied to millions of starving Third World people…
All this raises provocative questions. What do vegetarians eat on Thanksgiving? How do they handle family situations? How did the Thanksgiving turkey tradition get started? Why do turkey carcasses carry government warning labels? Why does a turkey receive a presidential pardon?