PETA’s Thanksgiving Billboard to Ask Vancouver Kids: Would You Eat Your Dog?

Ads Near Schools Will Promote Compassion for Turkeys

For Immediate Release:
September 26, 2013

Contact:
Allison Lakomski 202-483-7382

Vancouver, B.C. — How would children feel if Fido were stuffed and roasted for Thanksgiving? That’s what PETA is asking this holiday season with a billboard that shows an animal who’s a cross between a dog and a turkey and reads, “Kids: If You Wouldn’t Eat Your Dog, Why Eat a Turkey? Go Vegan.” The group plans to run the billboard near schools in Vancouver in the hope that it will spark a dialog between kids and their parents.

“Kids love animals, and if they thought about how turkeys feel pain and fear just as dogs and cats do, they’d trade in their drumsticks for a savoury slice of vegan roast in a heartbeat,” says PETA Campaign Manager Katie Arth. “This Thanksgiving, families can give all animals something to be thankful for by sticking to humane, delicious vegan meals.”

Canadians eat approximately 8.8 million turkeys per year—3.1 million of whom are purchased for Thanksgiving alone. In nature, turkeys are protective and loving parents as well as spirited explorers who can climb trees and run as fast as 40 kilometres per hour. Turkeys in the wild can live up to 10 years, but those on factory farms are normally slaughtered between 12 and 26 weeks of age. The young birds are hung from metal shackles attached to their feet and dragged through an electrified bath that can cause them to have full-body tremors. Sometimes the turkeys are still conscious when their throats are slit and they are placed into a bath of scalding-hot water that is used to remove their feathers. 

To reach kids across Canada, PETA also plans to erect its billboard in Calgary and Edmonton.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.