Poultry Group Concerned About 'Centerpiece Victim'

By Deborah Zabarenko

WASHINGTON (Reuter) - Thanksgiving is the worst day of the year for the people at United Poultry Concerns, which advocates the rights of turkeys and other fowl and decries a holiday based on "violence and the massacre of birds."

For Karen Davis, president and founder of the non-profit group based outside Washington, Thursday will be spent at a strictly vegetarian banquet with hundreds of other vegans. The days leading up to Thanksgiving were devoted to consciousness raising and public protest.

Thanksgiving "glorifies everything I don't believe in," Davis said Wednesday in a telephone interview as she prepared a hot mix of rice and corn for the 32 chickens and two turkeys who live in a "sanctuary" next to her kitchen. A rooster crowed in the background.

Davis questioned "the mockery of turkeys that seems to accompany the sentimentality around Thanksgiving ... It seems to be countered by a pathological need to ridicule the centerpiece victim of the piece ...

"I despise all of that and I believe we need to investigate the psychology behind it ... There's a lot of violence underlying Thanksgiving."

Disputing the public perception of turkeys as stupid, Davis added that turkeys' ungainly gait is due to "de-toeing" which makes it difficult for them to maintain balance and the fact that they are allowed to gain so much weight that they are unable to walk.

To protest such poultry-raising techniques, Davis and some 30 other activists attempted to hold a candlelight vigil outside Maple Lawn Farms in rural Maryland, trying to get the attention of carloads of holidaymakers who had driven to the site to pick up farm-raised turkeys for Thursday's meal.

The demonstrators ran into problems regarding a Howard County permit and high winds snuffed out the candles almost as soon as they were lit, Davis said, adding that she would take these factors into account for future events.

Last Sunday, Davis's non-profit group held an all-vegetarian potluck dinner, attended by humans and assorted poultry, none of which was on the menu. Storytime featured the tale of "how eight school children rescue eight fluffy turkeys from Farmer Mack Nugget on Thanksgiving Eve."

To further her group's vision of the holiday, Davis has put together an alternative Thanksgiving menu, including pastry-wrapped nut loaf, mushroom gravy, rosemary roast potatoes, stuffed squash with fruited cous cous stuffing, braised vegetable medley and apple tart for dessert.

Davis, for whom UPC is a full-time occupation, said she was galvanized to act by a chicken she named Viva, one of several former denizens of a chicken house near Davis's home. Viva became more than a pet for Davis, who considered the bird a companion who could carry on a dialogue with her.

The group, founded in 1990, produces a quarterly newsletter, Poultry Press, which examines such issues as a "turkey olympics" and ostrich-drawn chariot races.

In addition, Davis has written a cookbook, a book on the poultry industry and a book for children, "A Home for Henny", which is part of UPC's campaign to replace chicken-hatching projects in U.S. classrooms.

Reuters/Variety