Image credit: Audobon
Turkeys have not always been a part of Thanksgiving, but they have always been a part of America. John Audobon said the turkey was “one of the most interesting of the birds indigenous to the United States of America.”1
Wild turkeys
We are fortunate that the wild turkey population is increasing in many states where they have established wild populations. Even in Michigan where they were completely killed off, they were reestablished in the 1950s from a wild Pennsylvania turkey flock. Now there are about 200,000 in Michigan.2 Georgia, however, has seen declining turkey populations in recent years due to less than replacement numbers with hatchlings, over hunting and loss of habitat.3 Wild turkeys are regulated by state natural resource agencies. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 excludes turkeys in part because they are not on other signatory countries’ lists of migratory birds.4
Wild to domesticated
Native America used turkey feathers from the East Coast Native Nations to the Pueblos in the Southwest.5 A traditional headdress with turkeys that stood vertically, is the traditional male headdress for the Powhatan Confederacy. Turkey feather blankets were traditional with the ancient Pueblo Cultures as well as flutes made of turkey bones.6 As early as 300 BCE, there is evidence that the Nahuatl language group of indigenous peoples of Mexico domesticated turkeys, called huexolotl, for meat. Evidence of domesticated turkeys is also found in the Chaco Canyon site from 900 C.E., where analyses show the turkeys were fed an all corn diet, indicating they were domesticated.7
The turkey is only one of two bird species of the Americas domesticated for food.8
In documented U.S. government history, we can look to Pres. Lincoln in 1863, amidst the U.S. Civil War,9 for the first recorded mention of Thanksgiving turkey. Pres. Lincoln was reported to have given clemency to the Thanksgiving turkey when Lincoln’s son, Tad, asked his father to save his turkey, which had become Tad’s pet.10
However, the practice of saving the turkey was not in the minds of the poultry industry when the Poultry and Egg National Board in an effort to promote the sale of turkeys presented turkeys to Pres. Roosevelt in the White House for Thanksgiving dinner in 1947.11 It was not until 1963, that turkeys were once again given clemency when Pres. Kennedy remarked, “We’ll just let this one grow.” Then it was not until Pres. George Bush ‘41 that turkeys were once again pardoned, and that tradition has been continued by Presidents, ever since.12 Turkeys have a national platform and you might think that would bring attention to their treatment on farms, and perhaps it has because since 2005 legislation has been introduced to make turkey farming more humane.
Thanking the turkey
The Native American tradition of thanking animals for giving themselves for dinner, or giving their feathers for warmth or ceremony is a tradition that we might try to adopt more widely in the U.S.. In fact, not only do we fail to thank the turkey, we do a poor job of respecting the turkey during it short life in industrial turkey farming.
That failure, coupled with the fact we need a lot of turkeys in the U.S.— in 2021, the U.S. produced 216.5 million birds13 — suggests we need to evolve as a society to be better with our relationship with turkeys. In 2021, the U.S. produced 216.5 million birds.
88% of Americans surveyed by the National Turkey Federation eat turkey on Thanksgiving. 46 million turkeys are eaten each Thanksgiving, 22 million on Christmas and 19 million turkeys on Easter.14
Turkey production is regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But we are failing as regulators to ensure they are treated humanely. We rely on undercover PETA investigators to reveal animal cruelty which is rampant like the ones at the Plainville Turkey facilities in Pennsylvania.15 We rely on third-party, private sector certifying organizations to give consumers labels like “humanely raised” in a “stress free environment” run by Global Animal Partnership.16 The label “Earthwise” was trademarked by a turkey farm itself, with no certifying body.17 Since the investigation at Plainville Turkey farm, and the resultant 139 charges filed, including six felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals and 76 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty, the certifying agency no longer certifies the farm.18 It was the non-profit advocacy organization that led the investigation that led to criminal charges. But our legal regulatory system should not require a non-profit undercover organization to ensure enforcement of the minimal animal cruelty laws that we have, much less much more stringent third-party “humanely raised” standards. State laws also regulate animal cruelty and state laws are not usually applicable to federally regulated areas.
The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act (1958), unfortunately, has exempted birds including turkeys from humane methods. Turkeys are covered under the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA)19 but this ensures humane treatment only up to slaughter. It is shameful that the standard is for commercial best practices, devoid of any moral reason. Best practices means that birds are less likely to be adulterated if they are not abused. Yes, economics that flow from interstate commerce is the basis for these regulations, but we do permit morals to be the basis of interstate commerce regulation, too.20
. . . birds are more likely to be adulterated if, among other circumstances, they are produced from birds that have not been treated humanely, because such birds are more likely to be bruised or to die other than by slaughter.
So the only interest in preventing bird abuse is economics in preserving birds that can be sold. That is a sad commentary on American morals and values.
Our relationship with turkeys
Turkeys have personalities and make good pets. They become attached to a particular human they choose, and they are also extremely curious. Yet they are subject to unregulated and unmonitored systematic abuse if Plainville Turkey farm is any indication.
We need turkeys and we need turkeys at affordable prices. It is not inconsistent to be humane and also have turkeys at affordable prices. It might also help save the humans who work in the industry. In a 2017 report based on OSHA data, the poultry industry ranked 12th most dangerous, which is higher than the auto and steel industries for the category of severe injuries reported. High speed slaughter in freezing cold conditions put workers at risk for injury.21
Also affecting humans, environmental justice research has shown that poultry farms in Mississippi22 as well as other southern states like North Carolina disproportionately impact communities of color and Native American reservations and communities. 23 The water runoff from poultry operations as well as the odors affect the environmental health of these communities.
During the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown, the poultry industry resisted implementing social distancing or requiring worker protection. Tyson Foods in North Carolina was criticized for having 570 employees infected with COVID-19 which was one-third of their workforce, May 20, 2020.24
Helping turkeys will also help humans.
In conclusion
If everyone thanked the turkey for giving its life for their Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, maybe we could change attitudes just a bit in America about moral and humane obligations to turkeys and other poultry.
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https://www.audubon.org/birds-of-america/wild-turkey
https://www.wxyz.com/news/michigans-wild-turkey-population-is-seeing-a-resurgence
https://nowhabersham.com/georgias-wild-turkeys-were-once-considered-a-conservation-success-but-now-are-in-decline/
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/07/31/2023-15551/general-provisions-revised-list-of-migratory-birds
https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/native-americans-turkey/
https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/native-americans-turkey/
https://www.audubon.org/news/native-americans-domesticated-turkeys-long-pilgrims-arrived
https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/turkey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War
https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2021/11/a-presidential-history-of-thanksgiving/
https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2021/11/a-presidential-history-of-thanksgiving/
https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2021/11/a-presidential-history-of-thanksgiving/
https://www.eatturkey.org/turkeystats/
https://beef2live.com/story-fun-facts-turkeys-part-1-0-120914
https://apnews.com/article/science-business-pennsylvania-animal-cruelty-people-for-the-ethical-treatment-of-animals-215ad0a211f604aaf4528836f9676c2c
https://globalanimalpartnership.org/
https://www.plainvillefarms.com/earthwise
139 charges were filed, including six felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals and 76 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty.
(21 U.S.C. § 451 et seq. (2022).
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/mann_act
https://sentientmedia.org/the-human-cost-of-eating-turkey-this-thanksgiving/
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/env.2020.0045
https://www.ciclt.net/sn/new/n_detail.aspx?ClientCode=ncagbc&N_ID=143224
https://www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2020/05/28/as-covid-races-through-mountaire-farms-poultry-plant-workers-deemed-vital-feel-dispensable/