Humane Society seeks change in how turkeys killed

Smithfield Foods' recent proxy statement includes a shareholder resolution asking the company to switch to "controlled-atmosphere killing" of turkeys, using inert gases, at Butterball.

The source of the request, not surprisingly, is an animal rights group, the Humane Society of the United States. But where was locally based PETA, which had submitted similar resolutions in 2007 and 2008?

"We fully support" the Humane Society's resolution, said Stephanie Corrigan, PETA's manager of corporate affairs. Now, she said, turkeys are sometimes killed by slitting their throats while they're conscious or scalding them in water.

But because the Humane Society is focusing on this issue, "we're putting our efforts elsewhere," Corrigan said. The "elsewhere" is a push to eliminate the use of "gestation crates" for pregnant sows, which animal rights groups say are cramped and lead to greater risk of death and disease.

Smithfield in 2007 announced plans to phase out the crates by 2017 but later said the economy would force a delay. As for controlled-atmosphere killing of turkeys, "the research remains inconclusive," Smithfield said in the proxy. Results of shareholder resolutions will be announced at Smithfield's annual meeting Sept. 1 in Williamsburg.