‘CHRISTMAS is coming and the goose is getting fat’ sang the words of the old carol.

Today it is more likely to be a turkey or a plumped-up chicken that forms the centrepiece of our Christmas dinner table, or perhaps a joint of beef.

In this season of goodwill does anyone consider the lives these animals have led before ending up on our dinner plate? 

The turkey, which is so often the main attraction, is a sad caricature of the beautiful birds which once roamed wild and free across the forests of America.

The huge, stuffed-up version served up on the dinner plate, surrounded by fat sausages and potatoes, is probably only 15 weeks old.

Its short life spent in a dingy, dirty shed, crammed with birds overdosed with growth hormones to force it to reach slaughter weight as quickly as possible - its spindly legs collapsing under the vast weight of its overdeveloped body.

Catching and slaughtering is done with no regard for the welfare of the birds.

Broken legs and wings due to rough handling are common in birds arriving at the slaughter house, to be shackled by the legs and carried by conveyor belt to the stunning bath and knife, where their throats are slit with such reckless efficiency that many of these grossly overweight birds are plunged into the scalding tank while still fully conscious.

The lives of the pigs, raised in their thousands to produce the juicy pork sausages and sausage meat with which the turkeys are so liberally stuffed, fare no better. 

These highly intelligent animals are often raised in small, barren pens for breeding purposes - or dirty, overcrowded sheds where they fight and scramble for space - and are slaughtered at four to six months old.

There is an alternative - we can choose to buy organic meat from free-ranging animals, although these will still have to endure the terror and trauma of transport and slaughter.

Animals are not stupid and are fully aware of the grisly process lying ahead.

Or we can go vegetarian, and settle down to a cruelty-free Christmas, conscious of the fact that no animals have suffered to provide our Christmas dinner.

Mrs P Nelson, Gosport.