Turkeys Make ‘ThanksVegan’ Plea on City Bus Stops, Thanks to PETA

For Immediate Release:
October 6, 2021

Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382

Brandon, Manitoba –

PETA is offering some ThanksVegan food for thought in Brandon by covering city bus stop benches with images of turkeys proclaiming, “I’m ME, Not MEAT,” to encourage everyone to enjoy a bird-friendly holiday—something that’s clearly already on many Canadians’ minds, as the number of online searches involving the word “vegan” in Canada grew by 113% from 2016 to 2020.

“When people realize that turkeys love their families, feel pain and fear, and value their lives, they’re eager to put a Tofurky on the table,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA offers recipes, shopping tips, and more so that everyone can enjoy a delicious ThanksVegan meal that leaves gentle birds in peace.”

Turkeys can live up to 10 years, but those raised for food are usually slaughtered when they’re between 12 and 26 weeks old—and millions 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’s “turkeys” will also make a splash in Abbotsford, British Columbia, including in the city’s airport, and Tofurky giveaways are planned in Montréal, and Toronto. Across Canada, Sobeys, Save-On-Foods, Buy-Low Foods, and other major grocery chains are teaming up with PETA to showcase their ready-to-roast vegan turkeys and other vegan holiday fare. The Very Good Butchers, with locations from coast to coast, will also spread the #ThanksVegan word on social media, and people across the country can take advantage of PETA’s ultimate Canadian ThanksVegan guide.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s “turkeys” appear on bus stop benches at the following intersections:

Eighth Street and Rosser Avenue
Centennial Boulevard and Riverheights Drive
13^th Street and Princess Avenue
Maryland Avenue and Cornell Bay
Frederick Street (north of Park Avenue E.)
Maryland Avenue and First Street (near Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School)
Princess Avenue and Fourth Street
34^th Street and Centennial Boulevard
20^th Street and Ottawa Avenue
11^th Street N. and Stickney Avenue