Bubbles and 65 other tiny turkeys forever escaped a thankless fate at holiday dinner tables when we discovered them one dewy fall morning in boxes left on the front stoop of Farm Sanctuary’s New York Shelter hospital, where they landed safely in a world entirely different from the one they had known. Unable to turn away the weary, battered and weak poults, we welcomed them with open arms, allowing them to rest under heat lamps in a hospital stall. Later, a closer look at the baby birds revealed to us that they were unmistakably refugees from a factory farm.

When they arrived at Farm Sanctuary, Bubbles and the others had already been mutilated. Industry workers used a high-intensity infrared light to debeak the birds and microwave radiation to remove the ends of their toes. These techniques are used on today’s commercially raised birds and delay amputation of the beak and toes until weeks later when the appendages erode and fall off. While some had already suffered the loss of these precious body parts, others still had their beaks and toes intact; however, they too fell off during the birds’ first days at the shelter, leaving wounds that caused terrible pain as they tried to eat and walk. To prevent infection, we cleansed the exposed areas daily, and thankfully, most of the poults have now begun to heal.

At the commercial turkey farm Bubbles and the others likely came from, these brutal mutilations would have only scratched the surface of the suffering they were destined to endure. Crowded by the thousands on the floors of dark, filthy 50-by-500-foot warehouses day in and day out, today’s commercial turkeys are typically denied all the basics of a natural life, including the ability to experience the outdoors, roost or make nests, form bonds with other turkeys, or even move, eat, rest, or stretch without a great struggle.

In these cramped conditions, the captive turkeys are at risk for disease, plagued by constant stress, and suffer from physical debilitations, such as foot, leg and joint problems, that only continue to worsen as they grow to reach a crippling slaughter weight of up to about 33 pounds at only 14 to 18 weeks of age. There is no compassion, comfort or hope in the world of the commercial turkey. Sorrowfully, it is in this cruel, indifferent world that Bubbles and his friends would have met their end if they hadn’t been spared.

Carefree and unencumbered for the first time, Bubbles and the rest have since begun to shake off the horrific experiences of their time as factory farm commodities, taking a firm hold of their newfound freedom and having the time of their lives. Still small, agile and able to fly when they flap their powerful little wings, these poults run, jump and perch on anything that is high above the ground, making the most of their juvenile days before they grow bigger and lose the limitless mobility they now enjoy.

If you are able to open your heart and home to turkeys in need, please learn more about and apply to join Farm Animal Adoption Network. You can also obtain more information about adoption by calling 607-583-2225 ext. 266.

If you can’t home adopt, please learn more about the plight of turkeys like Bubbles and find out how you can help end their suffering by visiting the Adopt-A-Turkey Project website.

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Pictures courtesy of Farm Sanctuary and Derek Goodwin for Farm Sanctuary.