Oakland Tribune Coverage of Turkey Rescues

[Guest guest]

Turkey rescue or theft? You decide

Activists abduct birds

 

November 23, 2003, Oakland Tribune

By Josh Richman, STAFF WRITER

 

MARTINEZ, CA -- They strut across the back yard, two of the luckiest gobblers

the Golden State has ever seen, feathered fugitives from their own personal

Thanksgiving apocalypse.

 

Some say they're " ambassadors for their species " who were " rescued " from

" deplorable " farm conditions, a sharp knife and, ultimately, a roasting pan.

Others say they're stolen property, purloined poultry -- turkeys on the lam.

 

East Bay Animal Advocates ( " A Voice for Compassion and Justice " ) issued a news

release last week announcing that while " millions of turkeys are cruelly raised

and slaughtered for holiday food festivities ... this year, several turkeys

escaped this horrible fate when rescued from numerous California farms by East

Bay Animal Advocates' Animal Bureau of Investigations (ABI) team. "

 

Spokeswoman Christine Morrissey said Wednesday that seven turkeys have been

taken from several California turkey farms since mid-October. She let the

Oakland Tribune see two of the birds Thursday during a stop along their passage

to a private sanctuary near Orland in Glenn County, where they'll live out their

lives in peace.

 

She wouldn't name the farms from which the birds were taken, in part because

these " rescues " aren't legal.

 

" The bottom line is these animals needed to be released from the horrific

conditions they were in, and we were looking at it from that perspective, "

Morrissey said. " Volunteers went in to rescue them. That was the top priority,

to intervene and make sure these animals were going to be cared for properly. "

 

That's a load of giblets, said California Poultry Federation president Bill

Mattos -- this is turkey rustling based on lies. The California poultry industry

takes great care to raise its turkeys under clean, humane conditions, he said:

" They are probably living in better conditions than most humans. "

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates 269 million turkeys will be raised

nationwide in 2003, down 1 percent from 2002. California is the sixth-largest

producer -- mostly in Fresno, Merced, Kings, Stanislaus and Tulare counties --

with about 16.5 million birds in 2003, down 7 percent from 2002.

 

And down .0000424 percent more since the seven turkeys went AWOL.

 

Morrissey said her turkey-takers saw thousands of birds on the farms. " I wish we

could take them all, but that's not the reality, " she said, calling these " token

turkeys -- essentially, they won the lottery. At the same time, these animals

really are going to be serving as education for the public on how animals are

raised. They're ambassadors for their species. "

 

She claimed the turkeys photographed Thursday were found " surrounded by other,

dead turkeys. They were living and standing on accumulated fecal waste. " And

like most turkeys on big farms, their beaks and toes had been snipped at birth

to keep them from harming each other.

 

Not so, Mattos countered.

 

" If they found those turkeys in California, then they're lying to you, " he said.

" If they found turkeys living like that, I'd like them to take me out and show

me where they are. "

 

He claimed California turkeys live a few hundred to a climate-controlled shed,

their bedding changed regularly, their food and water provided generously. But

Morrissey insisted that while some small family farms might raise and slaughter

turkeys humanely, the vast majority of U.S. turkeys are raised under ugly

conditions.

 

" Personally, I'm vegan ... I don't like to see animals slaughtered for food, "

she acknowledged. " But I also recognize that not everybody's vegan, and people

are going to continue to eat meat. The bottom line is, if you're going to

continue to eat meat, wouldn't you want to see the animals raised properly and

humanely? I think that's what the average consumer would want. "

 

Animal-rights activists range from conscientious, law-abiding people to what the

law deems domestic terrorists, such as whomever bombed Chiron Inc. in Emeryville

and Shaklee Inc. in Pleasanton recently for their ties to an animal-testing

laboratory; the FBI has identified a suspect in the bombings.

 

But the USA PATRIOT Act makes reference neither to turkey (other than the

Republic of Turkey) nor to poultry or livestock, and East Bay Animal Advocates

doesn't want to be cast as some diabolical turkey Taliban. Morrissey said her

group's mandate is simply rescue and education work. " We're not terrorists,

we're just trying to save animals. "

 

Still, California lawmakers last month passed a new law to stiffen penalties for

poultry-pinching such as this.

Pitched as a food safety and bioterrorism measure, the new law -- which takes

effect Jan. 1 -- was meant to deal with concern " over trespassers that enter

lands and facilities where animals are being raised for consumption with the

intent to interfere with lawful business practices and/or damage property, "

according to a press release from the bill's author, state Sen. Charles

Poochigian, R-Fresno.

 

Mattos said another rationale for the new law was that " people spread diseases

to animals, particularly to birds, very easily. " Exotic Newcastle Disease, for

example, is a viral infection that can be borne between farms on visitors' shoes

and clothing.

A 1971 outbreak in California threatened the U.S. poultry industry and required

destruction of 12 million birds. An outbreak in October 2002 led to a

nine-county quarantine and destruction of more than 3 million birds.

 

So while East Bay Animal Advocates members would have been fined less than the

cost of most parking tickets had they been caught, future " rescuers " could face

up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

 

Morrissey insisted the law was passed at the behest of agribusiness barons

" trying to cover up the systematic abuse that occurs, " and the chance of her

activists bearing a disease onto the turkey farms was infinitesimal.

 

Morrissey, whose day job is education and programs coordinator for the Contra

Costa County Bar Association, said she supports " pretty much all kinds of animal

activism. It's a pretty dynamic movement, and I think there needs to be many

types of methods employed, both conventional and nonconventional. Personally,

just as long as nobody's hurt -- human and nonhuman -- that's my boundary, my

limit. "

 

Formerly an ANG Newspapers image technician, Morrissey said her animal activism

isn't done under her current employer's auspices.

 

Asked if her job and her activism conflict, she said, " There's probably a little

overlap, but that's the choice I made, and I'm prepared to face those choices if

there's any conflict. "

 

Link:

http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82%257E1865%257E1786042,00.html

 

 

 

 

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East Bay Animal Advocates

A Voice for Compassion & Justice

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Website: http://www.eastbayanimaladvocates.org

Email: info

Subscribe: eastbayanimals-

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East Bay Animal Advocates is a Bay Area-based animal rights organization. Since

its formation in May 2003, EBAA has worked on campaigns to protect animals in

circuses, farming facilities, households, research labs, rodeos and beyond. EBAA

membership is free. Outreach events are held weekly around the East Bay. The

Advocates' Forum is held twice a month for individuals interested in

volunteering with our organization.