Butterball has faced renewed accusations of abuse, prompting some Americans to boycott the Turkish giant just days before Thanksgiving.
As millions of people across the United States prepare their Thanksgiving menus, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) took note of its undercover investigation of a Butterball manufacturing company in Ozark, Arkansas, which took place between April and July 2006. .
On November 5, the non-profit organization posted an excerpt of an interview with an anonymous researcher, who said he witnessed horrific cases of rape and live turkeys at the Butterball plant.
In the video clip, an undercover agent accused a Butterball employee of sticking his finger up Turkey’s cloaca, or vagina. One employee reportedly “humped” the turkey while it was being handled.
The team then cut into a picture of the Butterball plant, which PETA said “kills 50,000 birds every day.”
Video footage also showed a worker sitting on a turkey, while another clip showed a worker kicking a bird. “I kicked the f*** out of mother ***,” he said.
Some Americans are rejecting the Butterball turkey this Thanksgiving amid accusations of abuse again (Getty Images)
In the coroner’s witness statement, he said he saw Butterball workers “cruelly chaining live birds,” while another worker “strangled the bird to death.”
“An employee said that he likes to kill birds for ‘pleasure,’ and showed one he had hit in the face,” he wrote in the witness book, as another article said: “The employee threw the bird violently into the chains and caught one. and his neck, and another worker embraced a bird with legs and head that he had impaled on a chain.”
The uploaded photos have since prompted many people on social media to say they will no longer buy Butterball turkey for their Thanksgiving dinner.
“This BREAKS MY HEART,” one TikTok user said under a redacted episode of PETA’s investigation.
“I just bought a Butterball turkey today and will be returning it tomorrow first thing in the morning,” one person wrote.
Meanwhile, a woman posted a TikTok video of herself returning a Butterball turkey she had bought “after SA (sexual assault).”
PETA raises images from a 2006 investigation at a Butterball plant in Arkansas (PETA)
Speaking to Daily MailAmber Canavan – PETA’s vegan project manager – explained that the online response from people rejecting Butterball “is exactly what any animal advocate wants to see before Thanksgiving.”
“We’re just seeing more people swearing off turkey this year,” he said. “It’s never too late to go out and grab a roast beef. Spare the turkey from the horrors of the slaughterhouse.”
However, Butterball rebuffed PETA’s attempt to start a denial against the manufacturer’s turkey, mainly by saying that the private investigation took place almost 20 years ago.
“We are aware of a video from almost 20 years ago, which is being re-shared on social media. This video is not up-to-date and does not reflect our animal welfare practices,” said a spokesperson for Butterball. The Independent.
“Animal care and welfare is central to who we are as a company, and we are committed to the humane and responsible care of our flocks. This means maintaining the health and well-being of our turkeys is an ongoing task. “
A spokesperson explained that Butterball has an annual third-party inspection to ensure that the facilities are meeting “200+ science-based standards for the best quality of keeping turkeys.”
About 295 million Americans are planning to eat turkey this Thanksgiving (Getty Images)
He added: “Butterball was the first and the only Turkish company that is American Humane certified. We are proud to be one of the three turkeys on this Thanksgiving table. “
The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that 46 million turkeys are eaten on Thanksgiving. That’s about 21 percent of the approximately 216.5 million turkeys produced in the United States each year.
According to the 2024 Butterball Togetherness Report, 87 percent of Americans accept a Thanksgiving plan to serve turkey. This means that approximately 293.5 million people will eat turkey on Thanksgiving in 2024.
Despite turkey taking the top spot on many Thanksgiving dinner tables, some Americans have said that this bird is their favorite Thanksgiving meal.
In a survey conducted by Vacationer, which asked 1,042 American adults what traditional Thanksgiving foods they liked and disliked, nearly 35 percent of Americans ranked turkey as their favorite.
Dressing or dressing placed the second-smallest desired by about 32 percent of the participants interviewed, followed by ham at about 32 percent.