With over 10 million turkeys being killed each year for Christmas, we think thats 10 million good reasons to go turkey free this year! When you look at the way these birds are raised and slaughtered, we think you will agree! For alternatives to a meat based roast dinner, click here.

In the wild, turkeys roost in trees and roam in woodlands, eating vegetation and insects. An adult bird can fly up to 50mph. When you consider these simple facts, it becomes strikingly obvious that no intensive farm could come close to providing a turkey with what it needs to live a enjoyable life.

There are two main methods of farming turkeys, in windowless units, or in pole barns. The vast majority of turkeys are raised in windowless units, with as many as 25,000 birds crammed into one shed. The dirty litter they are made to live in often causes burns and ulcerations on their feet. Pole Barns do offer light and ventilation, but overcrowding is still a serious issue.The birds will often become aggressive, and attack each others eyes and feet. In some farms cannabilism is common. Up to 15% of turkeys die in the sheds. Some never learn to reach the food or water, others die from disease, and some grow too quickly for their bodies to handle (turkeys are bred to grow twice as fast as they would in the wild, this has resulted in male birds being unable to mate, and so females are artificially inseminated). Some breeding turkeys weigh as much as a 9 year old child, and hip and leg problems affect most birds.Some turkey's hearts actually expode.

The artificial insemination begins with human to turkey masturbation, with farm staff anally 'pleasuring' the male turkeys (and they say veggies are weird...). The turkey's semen is collected, it is then inserted into the female as she is hung upside down. Insemination is either performed using a syringe, or by the farm worker (or pervert) blowing it down a tube, and into the turkey's vagina.

10% of turkeys are debeaked. This painful act involves a chick having its beak partially removed with a hot knife, or clippers. Potential breeding stock are repeatedly debeaked throughout their lives. Soetiems the pain from debeaking is permanant, and never goes away. Male breeding birds also have their toes removed, and some farms practice desnooding, which involves tearing off the piece of flesh that hangs from a turkey's head. To finish of this mutilation, many birds are dewinged, and have feathers removed to prevent flight.

Despite having a natural life span of up to 10 years, intensively reared turkeys are slaughtered between 12 and 26 weeks of age. DEFRA sources have suggested that in some cases birds are killed at as little as eight weeks old. When slaughter time comes, the birds are roughly grabbed and thrown into lorries, often resulting in injuries. Then it's off to the slaughterhouse.

34 out of the 50 abbatoirs liscensed to kill turkeys stun them in an electric water bath. This basically means that the birds are hung upside down by their feet on a conveyor belt, and dunked into a vat of water, which has electricity running through it. Other birds are gassed, or stunned with a hand-held stun gun. Well over 40,000 birds are killed whilst still fully conscious, after avoiding the electric water bath. On small plants, decapitation or neck dislocation is used to kill the turkeys.Larger facilities use scalding water and slice the turkey's necks.

The diseases which aflict turkeys include: Rhinotracheitis, Paramyxovirus 2, and Salmonella enteritidis - a major new bacterial source of human food poisoning that can cause arthritis, blood disease, impaired immunity and death. Other diseases include Blackhead disease, Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale and Avian Influenza.

As you can see, the reasons to not eat turkey this Christmas are more than a little compelling! If you don't want to eat turkey this year, sign our turkey free pledge. If you've read all this and still want to gobble a gobbler, we suggest seeing a doctor - if not for your head, then for Salmonella, E-Coli, heart disease, arthritis...