November 23, 2024
Turkeys are fascinating creatures with playful and varied personalities, just like cats and dogs. These highly social birds are native to North America and can make a variety of cute sounds in addition to gobbling. In fact, turkeys have many unique, clever, and playful traits that may surprise you. Sadly, in the United States, over 46 million turkeys are killed for US Thanksgiving and another 22 million for Christmas. But turkeys are so much more than a centerpiece on a table, they are living, breathing, sentient beings that deserve love, kindness, and freedom. Keep reading to learn how special turkeys are, and then take action to stop their exploitation.
1. Turkeys can change color
Okay, fine, not their whole body, but their heads can change color! Their totally cool heads can shift from vibrant red to blue to white. It’s believed their skin changes color due to collagen fibers that swell or contract related to their moods and if they are excited, angry, or calm. These switching colors act as a communication signal to alert other turkeys - the more intense their colors, the more intense their emotions. If you feed a rescued turkey at Farm Sanctuary’s annual Celebration for the Turkeys they are likely to be calm, happy, and grateful. Contrast that with turkeys at one of the slaughterhouses to which Animal Save Movement activists bear witness. Sydney Animal Save documented terrified baby turkeys being transported in a truck to be killed for Christmas, never having experienced freedom a day in their lives.
2. Turkeys are social creatures
Both wild turkeys and domesticated turkeys are very social. Turkeys at sanctuaries love greeting friendly visitors and are very curious about new sights and smells. They require social interactions with other turkeys for their emotional well-being, just like wild turkeys living in flocks would. Turkeys build nests, forage for food, take care of their young and love a good dust bath. But when held captive on factory farms, they cannot do anything that comes naturally to them and are removed from their flock.
“Before ending up as holiday centerpieces, these gentle, intelligent birds spend their short lives on factory farms, where thousands of them are packed into dark sheds with no more than 3.5 square feet of space per bird. They’re genetically bred to grow as quickly as possible, and they often become crippled under their own weight.” - PETA
Activists with Manchester Chicken Save have witnessed very large turkeys crammed into filthy trucks on the way to slaughter and held peaceful vigils to raise awareness and promote a vegan world.
Photo: Manchester Chicken Save
3. Turkeys are watching you
You have likely heard the expression “eagle eyes” - but how about turkey eyes? While Meleagris gallopavo birds are certainly not eagles, their vision is three times better than humans! Turkeys can also see almost eight times farther than us with the help of eyes positioned on the sides of their heads and the ability for their eyes to work independently, resulting in a wide field of vision that can see almost 360 degrees. Their eyesight helps them survive in the wild and get a clear image of their surroundings. Next time you see a turkey, be sure to wear a colorful outfit since a turkey’s vision is more enhanced than ours when it comes to the color spectrum. In fact, they can also see UV light!
4. Turkeys can fly and sleep in trees
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a turkey? While you might not think of turkeys taking flight, wild turkeys can fly and this superpower helps them survive in the wild. Their ability to fly in short bursts helps them escape predators and they can move at about 55 miles per hour. But for domesticated birds that have been genetically bred to be almost twice as heavy as they would be in the wild, their wings cannot handle the unnatural weight. Not to mention that turkeys on factory farms are shoved, kicked, suffer horrible injuries, have open wounds, freeze to death, and have no opportunity to even stretch their wings, let alone fly. Wild turkeys sleep in trees at night with their heads tucked into their feathers to protect themselves from predators, while cute baby turkeys get cozy in straw nests on the ground, protected by the wings of their mamma until they learn to fly.
5. Turkeys are individuals with unique personalities
Turkeys don’t deserve what happens to them. Over 6 million turkeys are killed annually in Canada, 15 million in the UK, and a staggering 270 million in the United States, most of which are raised on factory farms. If you have ever had the privilege of meeting a turkey, you know they are curious, smart, playful, inquisitive, love exploring, and have individual personalities. Maple loves playing in the water after being rescued from a slaughterhouse by St. Louis Animal Save and Animal Alliance Network in Missouri and saved from becoming a Thanksgiving meal. These gentle souls are tortured on factory farms and eventually killed at the slaughterhouse just to end up on a dinner plate as a meal that will soon be forgotten. Turkeys, such as these happy rescued turkeys at Animal Save & Care Portugal, a nonprofit organization and chapter of Animal Save Movement, deserve to live their lives in peace.
Turkeys should be celebrated as friends, not food, not just on Thanksgiving, but every day.
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Written by Miriam Porter
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