http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201311/slaughtering-sentience-theres-no-reason-eat-turkeys

Millions of turkeys are horrifically raised and killed as mere tokens, but why?

November 28, 2013 by Marc Bekoff, Ph.D. in Animal Emotions

Many of you have heard this question over and over again, “Why kill turkeys to celebrate Thanksgiving?” They say repetition is boring conversation but I feel it’s essential to ask this question repeatedly, because there really

is no reason at all to slaughter and to eat these fascinating sentient beings in the name of a holiday, and turkeys surely are sentient beings (see also). Dr. Ian Duncan, a world-renowned expert on the behavior of food animals notes, based on detailed scientific research, “It is indisputable that poultry are capable of feeling pain. All poultry species are sentient vertebrates and all the available evidence shows that they have a very similar range of feelings as mammalian species. Poultry can suffer by feeling pain, fear, and stress.” More…