‘End Speciesism,’ Proclaims Thanksgiving Turkey on Local Buses
PETA’s Holiday Campaign Challenges the Idea That Only Humans Deserve Understanding and Respect
For Immediate Release:
November 4, 2019
Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382
“We Also Feel Pain, Love, Joy, and Fear. Go Vegan.” That’s the message from a turkey and two other animal friends on a new PETA ad that just went up on local buses in advance of Thanksgiving. And PETA’s free vegan holiday recipes are on offer for anyone who goes “cold turkey” by choosing only animal-friendly fare this holiday.
The ad is part of a national campaign against speciesism: the archaic belief that—despite their extraordinary talents, abilities, feelings, and intelligence—all other animal species are inferior to our own and that it’s somehow acceptable to carve them up, steal their skin to make shoes, or use them to test shampoo.
“They may look different and have their own language and behavior, but when it comes to feeling pain and fear, loving their offspring, and valuing freedom and life, turkeys are just like you or I,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA’s ads encourage people to reject speciesism this Thanksgiving by opting for a tasty vegan meal that puts kindness on the table.”
Turkeys are caring parents and spirited explorers who can live up to 10 years, but because of human prejudice, those raised for food are normally slaughtered when they’re between 12 and 26 weeks old, and at least 44 million of them are killed each year for Thanksgiving alone. The young birds are hung by their feet from metal shackles and dragged through an electrified bath, and they’re often still conscious when their throats are slit and they’re dumped into scalding-hot defeathering tanks.
PETA (whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”) is running the ad in cities across the U.S.––including Wichita, Kansas; Cincinnati, Ohio; Allentown, Pennsylvania; and Charleston, South Carolina––in advance of Thanksgiving, starting with North Carolina, the second-biggest turkey-producing state in the nation.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
