AS we enter the festive season and there is a natural increase in the amount of food we buy, I ask readers to please spare a thought for the lives of all those animals - especially the millions of turkeys - reared for Christmas every year.

Don't forget, when choosing your turkey, to think about where it has come from and the life it has led.

More people than ever before are choosing to buy higher welfare chicken and free-range eggs, but most people don't realise that the majority of turkeys are still being farmed in unacceptable conditions.

It is so easy to do your bit to help, just choose higher welfare labelled turkeys such as Freedom Food.

This demonstrates that the turkeys have been kept according to strict standards set by the RSPCA, where they can perch, move around freely, flap their wings and express their normal behaviour.

If we all stop buying turkeys reared to unacceptable standards, supermarkets would stock more higher welfare labelled turkeys and we could all enjoy a more welfare-friendly and happy Christmas!

Alan Wolinski, Regional Manager for the RSPCA in the north