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PETA to confront Hormel tonight on turkey slaughter methods
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By Paul Walsh, Star Tribune

Last update: January 29, 2008 - 9:35 AM

Animal rights activists are using an insurgent tactic to protest how turkeys
are processed.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals -- PETA -- says it will have one
of its representatives present a statement at the annual meeting of Hormel
Foods Corp. in Austin, Minn., tonight.

That representative, PETA says, has access to the meeting because he is a
stockholder.

PETA, as it has done in previous years, is imploring Hormel to adopt what it
says is a less-cruel slaughter method as turkeys make their way to store
shelves and kitchens around the world. Hormel, through its Jennie-O brand,
has been among the nation's leaders in turkey production.

Company spokeswoman Julie Craven this morning defended Hormel's processes,
caling them "good business, humane and scientifically proven."

She said that PETA has made this campaign in previous years as a
"shareholder resolution" but expects the statement this year to come during
the meeting's question-and-answer session. She does not expect the PETA
representative to be disruptive in any way, saying she believes the group
"has really gotten away from the stunts."

PETA alleges that Hormel slaughters one-fourth of its turkeys by having them
"dumped onto conveyors and hung upside-down by their legs in metal shackles
-- often causing broken bones -- and their heads are run through an
electrified bath that gives them painful shocks without rendering them
insensible to pain.

"They are still conscious when their throats are slit, and many are scalded
to death in the defeathering tanks."

As for the other three-fourths of Hormel's turkeys, PETA says they are
"gassed to death."

PETA is urging Hormel to adopt what it calls the "controlled-atmosphere
killing (CAK)" form of slaughter. PETA says CAK puts turkeys "to sleep"
quickly and painlessly by replacing their oxygen with nonpoisonous gases
such as argon and nitrogen.

Paul Walsh - 612-673-4482