Baby Turkey Stars in New PETA Christmas Cartoon Premiering During ‘The Grinch’ in Allentown

For Immediate Release:
December 8, 2022

Contact:
Robin Goist 202-483-7382

Move over, Rudolph—here comes Toby the turkey! He’s the star of PETA’s new Christmas special, airing during The Grinch on TBS this Sunday as well as on 20 other channels nationwide. The family-friendly video tells the story of little Toby’s escape—orchestrated by his mother—from a slaughterhouse-bound truck and how he winds up a beloved family member at the table, not on it.

The video is hitting airwaves as local Wegmans stores continue to sell turkeys from Pennsylvania-based Plainville Farms, some of whose former workers were charged with 141 counts of cruelty to animals—the largest number of charges in any factory-farmed animal case in U.S. history—after a PETA undercover investigation showed them punching and stomping on birds.

“Just like adorable Toby the turkey in PETA’s video, all turkeys are smart, curious individuals who love their families, and each one has a story that shouldn’t end on a fork,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “Only a grinch would eat someone like Toby, and PETA is encouraging everyone to protect turkeys from the abuse uncovered at Plainville Farms by choosing a delicious vegan feast this holiday season.”

Turkeys raised for food are normally slaughtered when they’re between 14 and 18 weeks old, and approximately 22 million turkeys are killed each year for Christmas alone. Workers hang the young birds upside down, drag them through an electrified bath, slit their throats, and dump them into scalding-hot water in defeathering tanks—often while they’re still conscious. In addition to preventing nearly 200 animals a year from enduring daily suffering and a terrifying death, everyone who goes vegan shrinks their carbon footprint and slashes their risk of suffering from heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and other ailments.

PETA’s video, which was created in collaboration with creative agency Dream Farm Studios, will air on Sunday, December 11, during The Grinch on TBS at 8 p.m. on DirectTV and DISH as well as on Animal Planet, BBC America, CMT, Game Show Network, ID, Nat Geo, Nat Geo Wild, Reelz, TNT, truTV, TV Land, TV One, USA, Bravo, CMT, SCI, TLC, and FETV.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.