Ducks and Geese:
- Ducks and geese are farmed in Ireland for meat, eggs and down.
- The highest grade of down, used to make bedding, involves a practice called live-plucking. The feathers and undercoating of geese and ducks are pulled off their skin while the waterfowl are still alive. (Source: CBS)
- Behind the Walls of Irish Duck Farming – Wake Investigations
- While the production of foie gras (ie. duck or goose liver) is banned in Ireland, it is still legal for restaurants to use it here.
- The pain and suffering behind foie gras – Animal Save Movement
Turkeys:
- Approximately 4 million turkeys are bred and killed each year in Ireland.
- In the EU, over 90% of turkeys are kept in intensive indoor systems. These turkeys are kept in enclosed sheds in groups of up to 25,000 birds and have no outdoor access. (Source)
- In the wild they run, fly, dust-bathe, care for their young and communicate using a sophisticated range of vocalisations. Crowded together indoors in intensive farms, they are unable to carry out their natural behaviours.
- Keeping turkeys in overcrowded and barren environments increases aggression between the birds, which leads to stress and injuries. To reduce aggression, turkeys are often kept in low lighting conditions to make them less active. However this can lead to eye abnormalities and blindness.
- Feather-pecking and cannibalism are problems in intensive turkey farming. With very little in their environment to investigate and explore, turkeys often begin to peck each other. To reduce injury from feather-pecking, when turkeys are a day old, part of their beaks are cut off. This is procedure is painful but performed without anaesthetic.
- Selective breeding has limited their behaviour. Turkeys can no longer fly and often have difficulty walking and mating; they are often too heavy to mate naturally and instead females are usually artificially inseminated.
- Turkeys have been selectively bred to grow faster, reach heavier weights, and have very large breast muscles. This has led to various health problems including painful leg disorders and body system failures, e.g. heart failure.
- Turkeys are slaughtered at around 6 months. Their natural lifespan is around 10-12 years.
- Turkeys are intelligent, sensitive creatures.
- More about the treatment of turkeys on farms from United Poultry Concerns.
