Trump saves two turkeys for Thanksgiving but over 46 million will be killed (to end up on the plate)

Thanksgiving Day, celebrated every year in the United States, brings an impressive number of animals to the table: over 46 million turkeys are slaughtered to satisfy a tradition that has endured for centuries. The turkey has become the emblem of the festive meal for cultural, historical and practical reasons, but over time this habit has transformed into a gigantic cog in the poultry industry, dominated by intensive farming and increasingly aggressive production cycles.

Systemic suffering in intensive farming

Many turkeys destined for Thanksgiving come from facilities where the animals’ lives are consumed in conditions of overcrowding, forced growth and a total lack of natural stimuli. Transport to slaughterhouses represents a further stress factor, followed by rapid and mechanized slaughter. In 2025, overall production in the United States reached around 200 million specimens, confirming the scope of a system that continues to ignore the issue of animal welfare.

The presidential pardon paradox

Despite all this, every year, the president of the United States stages the ritual of pardoning two turkeys, a tradition that dates back to Lincoln and was consolidated in 1989 with George HW Bush. This year Donald Trump rescued two specimens named Waddle and Gobble, turning them into media stars for a day. It is a gesture which, while arousing public sympathy, highlights a gigantic contradiction: while two animals are celebrated, millions are killed in silence.

The rhetoric of “forgiveness” appears increasingly out of place in a context in which sensitivity towards sustainability, food ethics and the reduction of animal suffering is finally growing.

Thanksgiving, a celebration created to express gratitude for the abundant harvest and unite the community, risks being trapped in an anachronistic ritual, far from the values ​​it would like to represent. A cultural change is necessary to transform this anniversary into a moment truly dedicated to gratitude, not to the death of millions of living beings.

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