In the United States, turkey is a $18 billion industry. (2011)
The average American gobbles about 18.3 pounds of turkey per year. (down to 16 pounds as of 2015)
Around 240 million are grown each year and 46 million are eaten on Thanksgiving. (2014)
In the United States, white meat is preferred by a 2-1 ratio.
Top-heavy breeders are twice the size they were 35 years ago.
Ninety percent of the turkeys sold worldwide are the offspring of a few thousand superbirds that are owned by just three corporations that control the world market.
Turkeys have been bred with breasts so swollen with white meat that they are too clumsy to mate and often cannot stand. As a result, almost all commercial turkeys are the result of artificial insemination.
__________
“Scientists get it off their chests,” The Arizona Republic, November 19, 1995, A31.
*
[Original illustration at this number was added to HolwickID #2089]