7 Pieces of Photographic Evidence Proving Your Thanksgiving Dinner Comes From Hell

Each year, more than 45 million turkeys are brutally slaughtered for Americans to eat on Thanksgiving. These turkeys are subjected to mutilations without painkillers; crammed by the thousands into dark, windowless sheds; and bred to grow so quickly they often become immobilized under their own weight. Mercy For Animals has documented workers kicking and throwing turkeys, crushing their spines with bolt cutters, and viciously beating them with shovels and metal rods.

Most of us grew up eating turkey on Thanksgiving and didn’t stop to think about where that turkey came from. The sad truth is that turkeys, like all birds raised for food, endure hellish lives at factory farms from the moment they’re born until they’re violently killed. These seven stills from our undercover investigations prove it.

1. A turkey scalded to death after entering the defeathering tank fully conscious


2. Turkeys bleeding out on a slaughter line after having their throats slit


3. A turkey left with bleeding injuries


4. Turkeys crammed together covered in waste and suffering infections


5. A worker crushing a turkey’s spine with bolt cutters


6. A visibly injured turkey


7. A dead baby turkey with organs exposed


MFA’s brave undercover investigators risk everything to shed light on the horrors farmed animals endure every day. Please consider becoming an Investigator Ally with a monthly gift to support their work exposing the truth about where meat comes from.

You can also choose to end your support of such a cruel industry and stand up for turkeys this Thanksgiving by leaving them off your plate.

For a list of vegan Thanksgiving roasts, click here.