‘End Speciesism,’ Proclaims Turkey on New Billboard

PETA’s Thanksgiving Campaign Challenges the Idea That Humans Are Superior to All Other Animals

For Immediate Release:
November 12, 2019

Contact:
Brooke Rossi 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 billboard that just went up in advance of Thanksgiving.

The ad is part of a national campaign against speciesism: the old belief that despite their extraordinary talents, abilities, and intelligence, all other animal species are inferior to our own and that it’s acceptable to exploit them.

“When it comes to feeling pain and fear, loving their offspring, and valuing their own lives, a turkey is no different from a human being,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA’s billboard encourages people to fight speciesism this Thanksgiving by opting for a delicious vegan meal that keeps cruelty and exploitation off 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. in advance of Thanksgiving, including in South Carolina, one of the top 10 turkey-producing states in the nation. The billboard in Charleston is located about 3 miles from downtown on I-26 going north.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.