by Timothy Jones
Many families gather around the traditional turkey dinner during the Thanksgiving holiday. Please keep in mind that turkeys do not grow on trees. Millions of turkeys are raised for slaughter to accommodate the American Traditional Thanksgiving dinner. PETA reports on their website entitled “Turkey Transport and Slaughter”:
Close to 2,000 turkeys can be loaded onto a single truck headed for the slaughterhouse. The turkeys are collected by workers who grab them by their legs and throw them into large crates. Many birds suffer broken bones in the process.
The crates are then loaded onto trucks, and the birds are shipped through all weather conditions without food or water to the slaughterhouse. Millions of turkeys die every year as a result of heat exhaustion, freezing, or accidents during transport.
At the slaughterhouse, turkeys are hung upside-down by their weak and crippled legs before their heads are dragged through an electrified “stunning tank,” which immobilizes them but does not kill them.
Many of the terrified birds dodge the tank and, therefore, are completely conscious when their throats are slit. If the knife fails to properly slit the birds’ throats, they are scalded alive in the tank of hot water used for feather removal.
I have bow hunted turkey for at least 5 years. To date, I have yet to even get a shot at a bird. While target shooting last year, I had a rafter of turkeys walk between me and the target. I had to wait until they cleared the area…it was not turkey season so I could not legally harvest a bird. When I returned to the same location 3 weeks later during turkey season, there were no birds to be found. The fall wild turkey season is only 30 days beginning the second Saturday in November and the limit is 2 birds per season. According to Farm Sanctuary:
Turkeys used for meat suffer horribly on factory farms. Most spend their entire lives without ever setting foot outdoors. Genetically manipulated to grow extremely fast to achieve “market weight” at a young age, they are slaughtered when they have lived only a small fraction of their natural lifespan. An estimated 45 million turkeys are killed each year for Thanksgiving alone.
Forty-five million turkeys versus a two bird maximum. I’m sure if the turkeys could lobby, they would be lobbying in the hunter’s favor. However, turkey is part of the American Traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
Many American dinner tables may have a variety of beef on the American Traditional Thanksgiving dinner table. There’s not many things that can beat a great steak–cooked and seasoned to perfection. However, in a country of more than a billion people, with very different traditions, the majority still find beef consumption as wrong. Some Hindu traditionalists are appalled:
“The cow is our mother, it’s our duty to protect her…We do this because we believe in what the cow represents in our country, our culture and in the Hindu religion.”
The Indian government has increased the penalties for violating an Indian Tradition that is an every day occurrence in America:
Cow slaughter is now a serious offense and could invite a jail term of up to seven years in Madhya Pradesh. Consuming, keeping or transporting beef of any cow progeny will invite the same punishment.
My American Traditional Thanksgiving dinner includes venison. I would very much like to have a wild turkey, also. However, to date I have not been worthy. The venison on my Traditional American Thanksgiving dinner table is from an animal that I personally harvested. Millions of deer were not slaughtered so that I would have the convenience of selecting the perfect venison cut from the local supermarket.
As described above, traditions vary greatly. I am not so ethnocentric to expect that my mores are the perfect fit for anyone else but me. By the same token, I refuse to have anyone expect that I will adopt their mores as my own because of their self-righteousness and/or passion for a popular cause. According to historical accounts, the inclusion of venison (and duck) on my Thanksgiving dinner table more accurately resemble the dinner celebrated at the first Thanksgiving feast.
I would like to believe that those who value the wilderness as much as I do, would take this traditional Thanksgiving period to view the common ground that we share. By helping to keep the WILDerness WILD, we can work together to preserve a natural resource that will continue to serve everyone for generations to come. Our traditions may vary, but our cause is one in the same.
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Altadenan Timothy Jones was a Los Angeles County Fish and Game Commissioner from 2005-2011, where he served as vice-chairman. He blogs at http://fishandgametim.blogspot.com/
While prepping the Turkey this morning, I felt a sense of sadness. I looked at my bird and imagined him alive and happily roaming around a field. My neighbor has chickens and they would come into my yard. I quickly learned they were intelligent and affectionate. I said to my Son, “I think next year we need another plan. I don’t like this”. I would love ideas for some creative and delicious alternatives to Turkey.
Be careful what you wish for, Timothy. We were presented with a wild turkey hen, shot by a vegetarian friend [there’s a story there] who figured if anyone could cook it, I could. I tried, Lord knows I tried, but after careful gentle cooking that would have dissolved a domestic bird and which released the most mouth-watering smells, the bird I proudly placed on the table would yield to neither knife nor fork. fortunately, the guests were friends who happily washed down the hasty substitute with the designated wine. It did make a great soup after simmering for twelve or more hours.