‘I’m ME, Not MEAT’ Ad Will Pay Tribute to Turkey Hit by Car
After Famous Local Turkey Has Surgery for Mangled Leg, PETA Moves to Place Ad Urging People to See Animals as Individuals
For Immediate Release:
December 18, 2017
Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382
PETA is aiming to place its thought-provoking ad showing a turkey’s face alongside the message “I’m ME, Not MEAT. See the Individual. Go Vegan” on the sides of buses with routes around Cuyahoga Falls, Akron, and the Akron-Canton Airport in honor of Frank, a beloved turkey who is known around the community for chasing vehicles, bikers, and pedestrians and who was struck by a car on December 7 and had to undergo surgery for a badly mangled leg. He is recovering at the Barberton Veterinary Clinic in Norton and needs extensive physical therapy—and PETA’s ad would encourage everyone to see turkeys as individuals, like Frank, not as food.
“Turkeys are intelligent individuals who have unique personalities and value their own lives,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is encouraging anyone moved by Frank’s plight to keep turkeys off the table in favor of healthy and humane Tofurky deli slices and hearty vegan roasts.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—notes that 300 million turkeys are raised and killed for food in the U.S. each year. In nature, turkeys are protective and loving parents as well as spirited explorers who can climb trees and run as fast as 25 mph. Turkeys in the wild can live up to 10 years, but those raised for food are normally slaughtered when they’re between 12 and 26 weeks old. The young birds are hung by their feet from metal shackles and dragged through an electrified bath that can cause them to have full-body tremors. They’re often still conscious when their throats are slit and they’re dumped into a bath of scalding-hot water to remove their feathers.
PETA offers a free vegan starter kit (available here) full of recipes, tips, and more. For more information, please visit PETA.org.
