TALKING COLD TURKEY

Ben franklin called turkeys "true American originals." He had
tremendous respect for their resourcefulness, agility and beauty.
Turkeys are intelligent animals who enjoy having their feathers
stroked. They will often sing quite loudly along with music.
Try it, next time you come across a turkey in your area. We
have a family of wild turkeys who have come to call our Oakland
hills, home. They own the roads and driveways and are very
content to settle down, and enjoy our company. No one will
abuse or interfere with them. They come and go and we miss
them when they are away.
In nature they can fly some 55 miles an hour, run 25 miles an
hour and live up to four years and beyond, if left to their own
resources.

However the story's very different for turkeys on factory farms.
They will be killed when they are only 4 or 5 months old, and
during their short lives, they will be denied even the simplest
pleasures, like running, building nests, and raising their young.

Thousands are crammed into filthy sheds and their beaks and
toes are burned off eith a hot blade. Many suffer debilitating
leg pain, often becoming crippled uder the weight of their
genetically manipulated and drugged bodies. When the time
comes for slaughter, they are thrown into transport trucks, and
when they arrive at the slaughterhouse, their throats are cut and
their feathers burned off, often while they are still conscious.

Turkeys and birds, like all animals are sensitive, intelligent, can
communicate, feel pain, love their young, and feal fear. They are
alive and want to remain alive. Xmas has come and gone and so
have 300 million of these as well, in the U.S OF A, land of the brave
and the free.