Activists promote turkey-free Thanksgiving, alleging cruelty

Updated: November 20, 2007 - 2:04 PM

In the state that raises more turkeys than any other, a round of public vegetarian Thanksgiving meals has been served of late.

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In the state that raises more turkeys than any other, a round of public vegetarian Thanksgiving meals has been served of late.

The folks at GentleThanksgiving.org in Bethesda, Md., have been spreading the word about "compassionate alternatives to cruel turkey dinners" in Minnesota and 32 other states.

In Minneapolis on Sunday, Compassionate Action for Animals held its fifth annual Turkey-Free Thanksgiving Potluck.

A week earlier, a similar meal was served at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Rochester, Minn.

Recommended substitutions for turkey include "tofurkey" or lentil or nut roast.

The advocates for a turkey-free Thanksgiving contend that the birds "spend their entire lives crammed in large sheds with little room to move" and are "artificially inseminated and selectively bred to gain enormous amounts of weight," leading to "heart attacks, broken limbs, lameness, and death."

The National Turkey Federation defends its farmers' practices, saying that the most recent guidelines, "developed by leading turkey industry experts, have been ... approved by numerous third-party scientific reviews."

Minnesota ranks No. 1 for turkey production in the United States, raising about 45 million birds in 2006, according to federal figures.

PAUL WALSH