‘Screaming Turkey’ Truck to Confront Thanksgiving Shoppers Nationwide
For Immediate Release:
November 1, 2024
Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382
Would grocery shoppers still buy turkeys for Thanksgiving if they saw—and heard—the screaming birds headed for slaughter? That’s exactly what will happen outside grocery stores nationwide ahead of the holidays as PETA kicks off its first annual “Give Birds a Break” tour,featuring a hyperrealistic turkey transport truck covered with images of birds crammed into crates on their way to slaughter, just as real turkeys are. The vexatious vehicle is setting out to crisscross the country to intercept shoppers before they make a purchase they can’t take back—bombarding them with actual recorded sounds of the birds’ cries along with a subliminal message every 10 seconds urging people to go vegan.
Over the next two months, PETA’s truck will make stops outside Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Costco, and other grocery stores in 30 states—including top turkey killers California, Iowa, Minnesota, and Virginia—as well as making an appearance at the much-criticized presidential “turkey pardon” in Washington, D.C.
PETA notes that with a plethora of delicious vegan roasts—including Field Roast’s Hazelnut & Cranberry Plant-Based Roast, Gardein’s Plant-Based Turk’y Roast, and Tofurky’s Plant-Based Roast & Wild Rice Stuffing—available in stores and online, cruelty and death have no place on holiday tables.
Additional photos are available here.
“Turkeys are devoted parents who purr to their babies and whose skin changes color to express their emotions, yet in the meat industry, they’re crammed into filthy sheds and slaughtered, often while they’re still conscious,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA’s turkey transport truck is an appeal to holiday shoppers to give these smart birds a break and stop the annual cycle of cruelty by choosing vegan this Thanksgiving and beyond.”
In nature, turkeys spend their days foraging, caring for their young, building nests, keeping clean by taking dust baths, and roosting in trees out of reach of predators and can live over 10 years. But the throats of turkeys raised for food are slit within the birds’ first six months of life—and tens of millions are killed each year for Thanksgiving and Christmas alone. Workers hang the struggling young birds upside down, drag them through an electrified bath, slit their throats, and dump them into scalding-hot defeathering tanks.
PETA’s free vegan starter kit and “ThanksVegan” guide are filled with tips to help anyone looking to make the switch.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
