Turkey dinner? No thanks

Oct 04 2006

The Editor,

What are you giving thanks for this year?

I will be giving thanks for my health, a loving husband, good friends, a roof over my head and, most importantly, I will be giving thanks that I have come to learn to eat healthily without contributing to the suffering of animals. I am a vegan.

This time of year, thousands of birds will be killed, many of them in a non-humane way, for Thanksgiving. Turkeys raised on factory farms are hatched in large incubators and never see their mothers or feel the warmth of a nest. When they are only a few weeks old, they are moved into filthy, windowless sheds with thousands of other turkeys, where they will spend the rest of their lives. To keep the birds from killing one another in such crowded conditions, parts of the turkeys' toes and beaks are cut off, as are the males' snoods (the flap of skin under the chin). All this is done without any pain relievers.

Thank goodness my husband and I will not be contributing to this in humanity. There are so many good alternatives, anyone wishing to choose kindness over cruelty can go to vegcooking.com or goveg.com for recipes.

Susan L. Averiss

Coquitlam