Happy birds at Christmas: RSPCA-approved turkey
Australia’s first RSPCA Approved turkey will be ready just in time for Christmas, with all of Coles’ Finest fresh turkeys bearing the welfare-friendly label this year.
“Demand for higher welfare food has never been stronger and with turkey a staple for many Australian families at Christmas time the RSPCA has teamed up with Coles to provide a more ethical option for turkey lovers,” said RSPCA Australia CEO Heather Neil.
Last year, Coles obtained FREPA (Free Range Egg and Poultry Australia) accreditation for its turkeys. This year, the new RSPCA Approved Free Range turkeys will be available nationally from December 18. The turkeys are sourced from RSPCA Approved farms in the Hunter Valley.
“On RSPCA Approved farms, turkeys can move freely inside and outside, socialise, perch, forage for food, dust bathe and scratch in the dirt. These most basic of needs aren’t afforded to turkeys in conventional farming systems,” said Neil.
Coles General Manager of Meat, Allister Watson, says that the move to RSPCA Approved Free Range turkeys follows increased consumer demand for more ethical choices.
“Consumers continue to tell us that they are concerned about the welfare of animals, and this is even more evident at Christmas time. That’s why we’ve been working hard with our suppliers and the RSPCA to help customers clearly identify which turkeys meet the RSPCA’s tough free range standards.
“We’re expecting to sell over 30,000 free range turkeys this Christmas, including 55 per cent more free range whole turkeys than last year,” said Watson.
Turkey is the latest addition to the RSPCA’s Approved Farming Scheme, which so far provides high welfare standards for layer hens, pigs and meat chickens.
RSPCA Approved farming aims to improve the lives of the millions of farm animals raised for food in Australia every year by getting them out of conventional systems and onto farms that better meet their needs.
“The RSPCA believes that whether it’s chicken, ham or turkey, you can enjoy your Christmas lunch and still care about the animals that provided it. In fact this is the first Christmas that all three of those traditional favourites have been so readily available and that makes this a great Christmas for progress in animal welfare,” said Neil.
How crass !! Happy birds for christmas !! just because the rspca approve them ?
This has nothing to do with animal welfare as in truth the rspca are basically animal rights minded and most are vegans.
All this is to with is income of the monetary kind just like here in the good old UK where the rspca glean money from its` ” Freedom Foods ” logo.
And even the supermarkets are brainwashed by them.
Farming and meat produce has survived for generations quite nicely without the Pet Police setting the standards and for those interested look up the rspca freedom food regarding how their farm kept ducks !
Eventually RSPCA will have so much power we will need an RSPCA expensive licence to have a pet, to farm poultry, to sell eggs, to milk goats, sheep and cows. How much did Coles have to pay for this RSPCA approval? that was not told to us in this story. We were also not told what makes these turkeys so special compared to other turkeys. Turkeys do not get raised in cages anywhere in Australia. So how is RSPCA free range turkeys any better than other free range turkeys? is it the $ paid by Coles for the RSPCA approval that makes these turkeys so special?
The Animal fanatics are really going too far wanting to ban:- live exports, mulesing of sheep ( maggots instead), animals having fun and being enjoyed and appreciated in circuses, pigs having their piglets in the protection of stalls, pets being sold from pet shops, people breeding quality pets (puppy farms RSPCA call them). It is becomming over the top and a big brother control.
Andy Meads, calm down. The RSPCA is an animal welfare group, not rights. If it was for animal rights it would be against eating the turkeys all together. Factory farming is cruel and wrong; it needs to be stopped, good on the RSPCA.
Wow Rhonda Evans, do you have any logic at all? The turkeys that have been approved by the RSPCA are free to express their natural behaviours and basic needs. Factory farmed turkeys are raised in high intensity sheds with no sort of stimulation at all and very limited ability for movement. As for all those other cruel things you listed that need to be stopped, nothing to do with big brother but common sense and compassion, something you obviously missed out on.
I admire the work the RSPCA does for cats and dogs but I’m appalled to see its current advertising campaign telling consumers they can enjoy their (free-range) Christmas turkey “and still care about the animals that provided it”.
So-called free-range turkeys were hatched following the same vile, artificial insemination process that produces the factory-farmed birds, suffer the same stresses of capture and transportation and are crudely slaughtered alongside their barn bred brethren.
There is nothing humane about the slaughter of a healthy animal for unnecessary food.
I will not be donating to the RSPCA in the future given that this is how it spends its funds.