The British national papers have entered into the Christmas spirit and are reporting how poorly treated turkeys are. So if you are a meat eater consider the miserable existance and horrified death of the animal on your plate this Christmas day.
The old meatismurder argument prevails of course - if people stopped eating the corpses of these individuals the need to inspect living conditions could be negated and the horrorified hand-wringing could be a thing of the past.
Read an Animal Aid report about turkey farming here
See the life-cycle of factory farmed turkeys (US) here

From the

 

Most of the 17 million turkeys reared in the UK are subjected to poor welfare standards, the RSPCA warned.

The poultry industry’s minimum standards are not good enough, according to the animal rights charity.

It says birds reared in the UK often are kept in cramped conditions which hampers their movement.

In addition, the majority of them are kept under very low lighting levels. This enables the birds to put on weight more quickly - but also puts them at risk of eye problems and even blindness, the RSPCA said.

Turkeys are typically reared in stark surroundings without access to things to perch on, investigate or peck.

From the

 

UK-reared turkeys ‘poorly treated’

MOST of the 17 million turkeys reared in the UK are subjected to poor welfare standards, the RSPCA warned yesterday. The poultry industry’s minimum standards are not good enough, according to the animal rights charity. It claims birds are often kept in cramped conditions which hinder movement

Also from the
 

So it may come as a shock to cast an eye over the images of abject misery captured in that Norfolk barn late on Wednesday night.

Scroll down for more…

Cramped and unhappy: Turkeys destined for Christmas dinner live in appalling conditions

Covered in the filth of their own faeces, the bedraggled and half-blinded creatures could barely lift their heads, let alone run around.

Lying here and there were several completely immobile birds, barely alive if not already dead.

Those strong enough to stand upright were practically bald, with open wounds and weeping sores on their heads, backs and wings as a result of cannibalism provoked by the stress of their conditions.

A case of animal cruelty headed for the courts? Not a bit of it. In turkey terms, these pitiful specimens are living in the lap of luxury.

All of which begs a disturbing question: as nine out of ten British families sit down to their turkey roast on Christmas Day, how much do we actually know about the animals we are eating?

The shocking reality is that most of the 10 million turkeys which will be served up this Christmas have existed in conditions that make that Norfolk barn look like a five-star hotel.

The Norfolk blacks have a few yards in which to hobble around, a carpet of straw to keep them relatively clean - and may even catch the occasional glimpse of daylight.

For the eight million battery-farmed birds, which make up 80 per cent of the seasonal turkey market, life is more squalid and death more drawn out than even the most devoted carnivores may care to think about.

These birds spend their entire lives in a space only marginally larger than the roasting tray which is their ultimate destiny.

Rest is difficult, because they continually bang into or climb over each other.

Excrement piles up, causing ammonia burns to footpads and hocks.

Unable to ‘exercise’, some become so fat they can hardly stand. Bored, they peck at the feathers of their neighbours or even become cannibals.

Farmers try to stop them by shortening their beaks with a red-hot blade.

All of this happens under cover, in vast windowless sheds so dimly lit that birds become blind.

A shed may hold up to 25,000 turkeys. But why does it matter if they’re going to die anyway?

Ask most Britons that question and they will tell you it matters a great deal.

We are, after all, a nation of animal lovers. And through the efforts of celebrity chefs, such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Gordon Ramsay the welfare of poultry is higher up the agenda than ever before. Remainder of article

Just as Christmas approaches and people celebrate the birth of one life by the commercialised mass killing of another, turkeys have developed bird flu.
( 22 million turkeys are killed each year in licensed plants with an estimated 10 million being killed at Christmas (based on consumption figures, DEFRA, 23/10/2001). )

WARSAW, Poland: Turkeys at two poultry farms in central Poland have tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu, authorities said Saturday. It is the country’s first reported case of the deadly virus in domestic livestock.

The outbreak occurred on two turkey farms near the city of Plock, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Warsaw, said deputy chief state veterinarian Krzysztof Jazdzewski.

Initial tests indicate the H5N1 strain of the virus, and samples have been sent to the State Veterinary Institute in Pulawy for final confirmation, Jazdzewski said.

He added that authorities plan to cull more than 4,000 birds from the two farms.

Authorities ordered farmers to keep poultry indoors and launched inspections of farms within three kilometers (2 miles) of the outbreak.

Here at meatismurder we have done our fair bit of celebrity-chef bashing - and long may that continue - but in the atmosphere of equality we must highlight the current stance being taken by three of these chef-du-jour against battery farming.
Although these guys are not going vegan and so taking the step that would stop the abuse industry in it’s tracks, they are pushing the animal welfare message into the gaze of a public that often do not get exposed to vegan campaign materials but may well see an article in their paper or a program on the television. These will show just how a living breathing individual becomes a cog in the food machine.

Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay and Hugh Fearnely-Wittingstall launch TV assault on eating habits

Jamie Oliver hopes his new Channel 4 show will help to end battery farming

Adam Sherwin, Media Correspondent

The “three tenors” of British cuisine — Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall — are joining forces to take on the supermarkets and change the nation’s eating habits.

After forcing an improvement in school dinners, Oliver now has battery farming in his sights. The public face of Sainsbury will demonstrate the “hideous realities of industrial chicken production”, for a special Channel 4 season on food.

In Jamie’s Fowl Dinners, the celebrity chef will host a dinner for food industry bosses and celebrities. During each course, Oliver promises to “demonstrate graphically” how battery-farmed eggs and chickens reach the dinner plate.

Channel 4 has filmed Oliver’s meetings with Sainsbury’s where he lobbies the chain to improve standards of chicken production. The retailer is to phase out the 150 million battery eggs it sells a year but stocks a mixture of free-range and conventionally produced frozen chicken.

A Sainsbury’s spokeswoman said: “We do not sell caged chicken. We insist that all animals destined for Sainsbury’s meat are reared to good standards of animal welfare.”

Oliver is seeking action to improve the conditions in which birds destined for all supermarkets are kept. On some farms up to 40,000 birds are kept under artificial light in closed sheds.

Andrew Mackenzie, head of factual entertainment at Channel 4, said: “Jamie’s message will be, ‘If you knew what happens to a chicken before arriving on your plate, would you still eat it?’

“Our standards are not as good as some in Europe. Even people who buy free-range chickens may not be aware that every time they eat cake, the eggs aren’t likely to be free-range, so they are essentially endorsing the battery hen. Jamie reveals how chickens go from the farm to the fork.”

Remainder of article at timesonline

THE PAIN AND SUFFERING OF FOIE GRAS

Foie gras, French for “fatty liver,” is made from the grotesquely enlarged livers of male ducks and geese. The birds are kept in tiny wire cages or packed into sheds. Pipes are repeatedly shoved down the birds’ throats, and up to 4 pounds of grain and fat are pumped into their stomachs two or three times every day. The pipes puncture many birds’ throats, sometimes causing the animals to bleed to death. This cruel procedure causes the birds’ livers to become diseased and swell to up to 10 times their normal size. Many birds become too sick to stand up. The birds who survive the force-feeding are killed, and their livers are sold for foie gras. Learn more about investigations of foie gras factory farms.

People around the world have spoken out against the cruelty of foie gras. In 2004, California passed a law banning the sale and production of foie gras effective in 2012, and Chicago banned the sale of this cruel product in 2006. His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI denounced force-feeding as being in violation of Biblical principles, and foie gras production has been outlawed in the U.K., Germany, the Czech Republic, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, and Israel.

Find out what you can do to help stop the cruel foie gras industry.

More great PR for Bernard Matthews. They must have Max Clifford on the case they are doing that well.

Bernard Matthews probes cruelty claim (story from eveningnews24)

Turkey producer Bernard Matthews was again embroiled in controversy today after footage showed a worker abusing animals at one of its farms.

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get video

Secretly-obtained video film shows a worker repeatedly kicking turkeys at the firm’s farm in Wreningham, near Wymondham.

It comes a year after footage was obtained of two of the firm’s staff playing baseball with live turkeys at its farm in Haveringland, Norfolk.

After that incident, turkey catchers Daniel Palmer, 27, and Neil Allen, 30, were ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service.

The latest footage was released by animal rights activists at the Hillside Animal Sanctuary in Frettenham.

(read rest of story> )

The day that battery farms are obliterated will be such an amazing day, until then we have to suffer news reports like the one below. It is possible to take heart from enlightened countries such as Switzerland, Sweden, and Denmark that all have moved or are in the process of moving to totally banning battery cages..

Update: Pennsylvania Court Finds that Animal Abuse on Egg Factory Farm is Legal

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An Injustice for Battery Hens

During November and December 2005, a COK investigator was employed at Esbenshade Farms in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania.

The video footage was then presented to a state certified humane officer.

In January 2006, the officer charged the owner and manager of this egg
factory each with a total of 70 counts of criminal animal cruelty.

Despite the clear evidence of cruelty, in June 2007, the court found the
defendants “not guilty.”

Please watch this video and decide for yourself. Is this something you’re
willing to support?

01:08

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Acquittal in Cruelty Case Further Demonstrates that the Foxes Are Guarding the Factory Farm Henhouse

On June 1, 2007, a Lancaster County judge acquitted a Pennsylvania egg factory farm owner and manager of animal cruelty charges, essentially re-writing state cruelty law to find that abuse is perfectly legal as long as it is committed against farmed animals.

“This ruling reveals that—under this judge’s opinion—farm animals in Pennsylvania have no legal protection from the horrific conditions that were clearly documented inside this egg factory farm” stated Erica Meier, executive director of Washington, D.C.-based Compassion Over Killing (COK). “This court may have acquitted these two defendants, but the court of public opinion is certainly turning against the egg industry and its cruel practices.”

The verdict was handed down after a trial in which the court was presented with undercover video evidence revealing appalling conditions for hens in the facility. The footage was gathered by a COK investigator who was employed at Esbenshade in late 2005, then presented to Pennsylvania-certified humane officer Johnna Seeton of the Pennsylvania Legislative Animal Network (PLAN) who subsequently filed 70 counts of criminal animal cruelty against the owner and manager of the farm. See Background section below for more detail.

According to COK’s general counsel Cheryl Leahy, “If these animals had been dogs or cats, there’s little doubt this case would have resulted in a conviction. There is a clear double standard here, and that hypocrisy is troubling.”

Read COK’s press release on the court’s ruling.

Background

From November 30 to December 9, 2005, an investigator affiliated with Compassion Over Killing worked undercover at Esbenshade Farms, one of the nation’s top egg producers, located in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania. While there, he documented appalling conditions for hundreds of thousands of hens including:

• birds overcrowded in wire cages so small, they cannot spread their wings,
• hens left to suffer from untreated illnesses or injuries,
• birds with their wings, legs, or feet entangled in the wires of cages, unable to access food or water,
• injured or dying birds removed from their cages and left in the aisles without access to food or water,
• birds impaled on the wires of the cages with many found already dead as a result of the painful immobilization, and
• hens living in cages amongst decomposing bodies of other birds.

To learn more about the investigation:

Visit our photo gallery		Read the investigator’s log notes		Review expert statements

Criminal Charges Filed

COK presented the video footage to a Lancaster County humane officer who agreed that the conditions for hens at this factory farm are cruel and inhumane. As a result of the video documentation and other evidence, the owner of Esbenshade Farms and the manager of the facility in Mount Joy were each charged with 35 counts of criminal animal cruelty. Read more about this investigation and the charges filed as reported in a feature article in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Case Goes to Court

The criminal trial against the owner and manager of Esbenshade Farms started on April 18, 2006, during which the defense’s motion to suppress COK’s video evidence was denied.

The trial continued on August 7, 2006, and resumed again on March 1, 2007.

On March 2, the defense’s motion for acquittal was denied.

Visit our Press Room for media coverage of this case.

Esbenshade and the Egg Industry

Esbenshade Farms does not even participate in the United Egg Producers’ (UEP) voluntary certification program, which sets forth the absolute barest of minimum guidelines for laying hen husbandry. While these guidelines still permit a wide variety of abuses, the fact that Esbenshade Farms will not even agree to follow them says a lot about the company. In fact, more than 80 percent of the egg industry participates in the UEP’s program.

Esbenshade Farms is Pennsylvania’s third-largest egg producer operating three egg factory farms, which house a total of 2.25 million hens in battery cages. At the facility in Mount Joy, the investigator was one of four workers monitoring seven sheds in which an estimated 600,000 battery hens are confined. In other words, each worker is responsible for the care of approximately 150,000 birds each day. To make matters worse, the cages at this facility are so dilapidated that countless birds become injured or imapaled on loose wires, preventing them from accessing food or water. Many die as a result of these debilitating conditions.

Taking Action

Choose Egg-Free Foods: The best way each of us can help laying hens is to leave their eggs out of our shopping carts. Get free eggless recipes and/or order your free Vegetarian Starter Guide today!