TThe United States is the world’s largest producer of turkey and the largest exporter of turkey products. Its residents are also eating more and more of these birds. In 1970, Americans ate just over 8 pounds per person annually; The National Turkey Federation reports that the number has nearly doubled to over 15 pounds by 2021.

This demand and modern breeding have transformed turkeys. They were bred to gain weight quickly, and at slaughter the average turkey today weighs nearly twice as much as turkeys did in 1960. The contrast with the growth rate of wild turkeys is even greater. At four months of age, a male wild turkey weighs no more than 8 pounds, whereas a male turkey bred specifically for meat weighs 41 pounds at the same age.

This puts enormous strain on their immature leg bones. Professor John Webster, a veterinarian and farm animal welfare expert, has studied a similar problem in fast-growing chickens and concluded that they experience pain in the last third of their lives – a situation compared to forcing someone to have arthritis in their legs so they have to stand up all day.

Turkeys have even more leg problems than chickens because they are also bred to grow quickly, but they are also almost all broad-breasted whites. Birds of this breed have been described as “physiologically unbalanced.” They walk or stand less than older breeds, probably because it is painful for them to put weight on their legs. A 2013 study of turkeys at 13 different slaughterhouses found that 60% of the turkeys had footpad swelling and 25% had arthritis.

All of these birds probably experienced pain when walking or standing. These problems could be avoided by genetically selecting the turkeys to be bred – in this case, selecting for slower growth so that the birds’ legs can mature enough to support the weight of their bodies.

However, the industry’s stance on such a proposal was once made clear by Scott Beyer, a poultry specialist at Kansas State University, when he wrote in a 2008 article: “Although a small percentage of birds may be predisposed to leg problems, the use of Poultry most likely.” It is recommended that selected fast-growing varieties be used as the savings in feed costs and time far outweigh the loss of some birds.”

Economics always takes precedence over the suffering of turkeys. When Beyer speaks of the “loss of some birds,” he means the birds whose condition is so bad that they die before they can be sent to slaughter at three or four months of age. These deaths occur in birds of a species that, if not bred for maximum breast meat, could have a life expectancy of 10 years.

These deaths aren’t that “little” either, except when compared to the 210 million turkeys raised and slaughtered in the United States. According to the U.S. Poultry Industry Manual, “the overall mortality rate for (turkey) hens is typically 5-6%, while the overall mortality rate for toms is 10-12%,” and according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it accounts for 57% of turkeys slaughtered Tomcats and 43% hens.

Let’s do the calculations using these numbers, conservatively using the lower end of the mortality range. Then we find that producers started 2022 with 133 million toms and sent 119.7 million to slaughter. For chickens, the numbers are 95.1 million hatched and 90.3 million sent to slaughter. If we add both sexes together, we learn that when Beyer rejected the loss of some birds, he said that the savings in feed costs and time outweighed the painful deaths of 18 million young birds.

In addition to the leg and foot problems that many turkeys suffer from, this study of 13 slaughterhouses found that 30% of them had blisters or other sores on the skin around their breastbone. These so-called “breast buttons” are common in turkeys that lie on their breastbone most of the time.

One factor causing these sores may be bird droppings in the sawdust or wood chip bedding used as flooring for commercial turkey houses where the birds are crowded together by the thousands. The droppings are alkaline and if there is moisture in the bedding or on the bird’s skin, it can cause caustic burns to the part of the bird that is pressed into it.

So for these intentionally deformed turkeys, there is no escape from pain. When they lie down to escape the pain of carrying their heavy, unbalanced body on their arthritic legs and swollen feet, they end up with painful sternum sores.

And that’s not all. An undercover video from Mercy for Animals shows turkeys in their 15th week of captivity, some of whom appear to have fallen victim to aggression from other turkeys. You have extensive bloody wounds on your neck, cracked scalp or bleeding from your eyes. The investigator reported some of these issues to the manager, but the manager took no action.

Such is the life of the birds whose bodies lie on the table at Thanksgiving.

Excerpt from “Consider Turkey”. copyright © 2024 by Peter Singer. Reprinted with permission from Princeton University Press.