Dead Hen Walking

The life of a turkey, on the death row block, is a short one, except for the lucky guy, who is granted clemency by the President. For the others, it's a short walk to see the executioner.

Like characters in a Sean Penn movie, they shuffle, from the sunny outdoors, into a long , white, artificially lit building. The door closes behind them, and they wait in line, slowly, moving towards the covered conveyor belt. This belt carries them to a platform, where two men, dressed in the their finest plastic aprons , grab the turkeys by their legs, and hang them from their feet, on another conveyance, hanging from the ceiling. Oh the indignity!
Some turkeys struggle, and flap their wings, while others quietly whimper and pee all over themselves.

Now upside down, frightened and disoriented, they are slid down the line to meet the somber fellow in the the yellow plastic apron. He is the Beast , whom the turkeys refer to as Olaf The Terrible. As they near, they hear that horrible whine of the electric knife, and smell the stench of fear, and know that death is imminent. The last sound a turkey hears, is the cheery tune Olaf is whistling, as he unceremoniously slits their throat with his knife.

As if this horrific death is not enough of an indignity, for a once proud living creature to suffer, he is then dispatched behind a black curtain, and emerges on the other side from a 180-degree steam bath, that essentially scalds off his feathers. Next, his feet are horribly mutilated to leave behind only a set of drumsticks.

After this, things begin to move fast. The gizzard and liver are ripped from his still warm body, bagged and stuck back inside, in the hopes of flavoring someone's gravy.
The rest of his innards are callously vacuumed out, and then another knife wielding worker waits to cut off any remaining feathers.

Slain in their prime, they are then weighed, and put on ice to await the cannibals who will dine on their flesh.

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you enjoyed your turkey! I know I did!