Written by Jeff Mackey
O, Canada! We're always busy, busy, busy during this festive season, but we haven't forgotten our pals in the Great White North—y compris nos amis francophones. Yanks and Canucks have so much in common, and yet there are distinctive differences. For example, while the yuletide finds a disturbing number of friendly, intelligent pigs on this side of the 49th parallel killed for ham, it's the saddest day of the year for abused factory-farmed turkeys in Canada. So PETA is encouraging Canadian kids (since kids haven't yet been taught to suppress their natural compassion for animals) to consider what—and who—they're eating. PETA has placed the attention-grabbing holiday billboard seen below on a highway leading into Victoria, British Columbia.
PETA's also giving U.S. kids something to chew on other than cruelly produced ham with this billboard, just outside Reno, Nevada.
Of course, companion animals need our help, too—and it's not just children who need to reconsider their attitudes. So PETA is also looking to put up a brand-new billboard—promoting spaying and neutering to effectively curb animal overpopulation—in the hope of reaching those kind people for whom this season is more about revering Mary than reveling merrily.
We'd like to thank all the donors whose support of PETA makes it possible to place these billboards, which foster awareness of animal rights.
What You Can Do
To give a holiday gift that keeps on giving to animals year-round, become a PETA member. And please remember to shop PETA for everyone on your list—each purchase funds vital efforts to improve and save animals' lives!
After learning that the Food Bank of Lower Fairfield County in Connecticut had put out an urgent call for Thanksgiving food donations following Hurricane Sandy, PETA has sent the hunger-relief organization 20 delicious vegan Tofurky roasts.
© MeetTheShannons.net
Vegan Food: The Taste of Kindness
PETA's donation should make the season brighter (and healthier) for the region's hungry as well as for animals. PETA also hopes the Tofurky will offer food for thought, showing that compassion knows no species barriers.
More than 250 million turkeys are killed in the U.S. every year—45 million for Thanksgiving dinners alone. Yet turkeys are sensitive, smart, social, and resourceful birds, who deserve to be treated as living beings, not centerpieces.
Tofurky and other vegan faux turkey provide great alternatives, savory taste, and plentiful protein, with none of the cruelty or cholesterol that comes from eating real birds.
Delicious, healthy vegan foods offer both hungry humans and exploited animals reason to give thanks. Enjoy fine vegan holiday dining with PETA's free recipes.
Thanksgiving is hell for turkeys. To make sure as many folks get this message as possible, here are three of our best holiday ads. Pick your favorite and share with friends to let them know why they should give turkeys a reason to be thankful, too:
"Would You Eat Your Dog?"
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"Turkey Terror"
"Grace"
Give everyone—including animals—something to be thankful for this holiday season by celebrating with a vegan feast.
Written by Michelle Kretzer
Have a run-in with the wrong people in Chicago and you could be dead meat. But have a run-in with the right people in Chicago and you could be free of dead meat. Miss Chicago, Marisa Buchheit, is helping people in her city stop commissioning mob hits on turkeys by hosting a pre-Thanksgiving vegan dinner to show off the best of Chi-Town's turkey-free fare.
© Jimmy Fishbein
Chicagoans were invited to meet the vegan beauty and sample the vegan bounty at the famous Chicago Diner. Marisa, who went vegan at age 12 to stop contributing to animal suffering, presented veggie turkey roast with country gravy, pumpkin ravioli, "beefy" Wellington, herb stuffing, holiday sweet potatoes, cranberry relish, green beans amandine, and dairy-free pumpkin-chocolate cheesecake. "I'm all about the amazing vegan food this city has to offer, and I think people are inspired by the fact that there is a pageant girl who likes to eat—delicious vegan food, at that," she said.
It's easy to whip up a meat-free Thanksgiving meal at home, but for people who would rather spend their holiday lounging than cooking, The Chicago Diner has an offer they can't refuse: The entire spread is available for carryout.
And turkeys are hoping people gobble up the diner's veggie turkey roast because even a turkey who messed with Al Capone wouldn't have gotten it as bad as the ones killed in today's slaughterhouses. Workers hang the turkeys upside down by slamming their often broken legs into shackles and then drag the birds through an electric water bath that immobilizes but doesn't kill them. Many of the birds dodge the tank and are still conscious when their throats are slashed. And if they're still alive when they reach the feather-removal tank, they are scalded to death in hot water.
It's time for Chicagoans—and everyone else—to send their meat habit the way of Jimmy Hoffa and indulge in a delicious turkey-free meal this Thanksgiving.
We all know that dead bodies should be buried, not eaten. So PETA is making Thanksgiving tables a little more relevant this year. We're offering teens these miniature tombstones to stick into the plucked turkey on the table:
If adults think tombstones are too macabre a sight for Thanksgiving, kids can tell them that what's really disturbing is that the decaying corpse in the middle of the table was once a gentle, smart bird until someone filling an order for a holiday meal shackled the bird upside down and slit his or her throat.
Thanks to honest young people armed with the facts, maybe next year people will give turkeys something to be thankful for.
Young people can request their free turkey tombstones from peta2.
Written by Heather Faraid Drennan
You know what they say: The key to a man's heart is through his … stomach. Our sexy pilgrims, who are touring New England this week, can attest to that and more. Obviously, they attract a crowd, largely because of the delicious, free Tofurkys they're handing out. In fact, the Tofurkys flew off the table—with men and women gobbling them up—within 20 minutes in Bangor, Maine.
The pilgrims also gave out PETA's free vegetarian/vegan starter kits and told passersby that every year in the U.S., 40 million gentle, inquisitive turkeys are killed for Thanksgiving dinners alone.
In nature, turkeys are protective and loving parents as well as fast, cunning runners who are able to outwit their pursuers. But the turkey industry crams the birds into windowless warehouses and genetically manipulates them to grow so large that their legs are often unable to withstand the birds' weight. Countless birds slowly starve to death within inches of food after they become crippled and are unable to move.
PETA's sexy pilgrims will be docking in New Haven today and Providence tomorrow. Even if you aren't lucky enough to grab a Tofurky from these lovely ladies, you can get tips on serving up a cruelty-free feast at our "Living" page.
Written by PETA
Is it selfish to eat shellfish? The results of several studies in the Netherlands seem to indicate so. Three professors at two universities have determined that meat-eaters are more selfish and distant and less social than vegetarians are.
Of course, it shouldn't come as any surprise that sentencing an animal (or several) to death for the fleeting taste of a turkey sandwich or bacon cheeseburger shows a certain lack of empathy, decency, and altruism. But the researchers studying the psychological impact of meat-eating concluded that carnivores are insecure people who feel the need to dominate others and be "the boss." They eat animals as a way to feel superior. Vegetarians, on the other hand, are less selfish and less lonely—and therefore happier.
Could this mean that happiness is waiting at the end of the produce aisle? I'm pretty sure that leafy greens are a lot cheaper than therapy.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
A Tofurky and some mistletoe will help to make the season bright, according to Katy Perry. She told the Italian magazine Grazia that she and her new hubby, Russell Brand, plan to celebrate Christmas by gathering 'round a pink (!) tree and extending some peace and goodwill to turkeys by dining on a vegan roast.
What a coincidence—my family plans to do the same thing (except for the pink tree part). Stars: They really are just like us.
Written by Alisa Mullins
Here's some free financial advice from MoneyWatch: If you want to save money, go vegan. Beef and dairy prices are expected to rise by 5 percent in 2011. Pig meat—or "pork" to those who like to pretend that they're eating something other than the flesh of a dead, dismembered pig—will likely cost 3 or 4 percent more next year too.
And people who are actually willing to fork over money for a turkey's corpse have to fork over a whole lot more of it this year, largely because of a 56 percent increase in feed costs. (Yet another reason why I'm passing on turkey!)
The real savings of going vegan can't be put in a bank—animals' lives, the environment, and good health (well, unless you count all the money you save on healthcare costs)—but vegans do tend come out ahead in the supermarket check-out lane, so it simply makes cents (get it? sense?) to go vegan.
Written by Heather Moore
We all know that Thanksgiving is murder on turkeys, but it turns out it can be murder on turkey-eaters too. With a little more than a week to go before the biggest turkey-dismembering day of the year, a Texas-based meat company is recalling 2,600 pounds of cooked turkey meat because of fears that it is contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes bacteria. While listeria may not be as "sexy" as E.coli (bloody diarrhea, kidney failure!), it's still a nasty little bug that can cause fever, headaches, and nausea and can even be fatal to people with compromised immune systems, such as infants, elderly people, and AIDS and cancer patients.
Think you're safe if you buy a raw or frozen turkey? Sorry, turkey carcasses are often contaminated with salmonella (USDA inspection reports reveal that an average of one out of eight turkeys is infected), as well as campylobacter, which is the second-leading cause of reported food-related illnesses.
But wait, there's more! Turkey wings and legs contain even more fat and cholesterol than many cuts of beef. A turkey leg contains more than 700 milligrams of cholesterol and more than 1,600 calories—40 percent of which are derived from fat.
But all is not lost. A Thanksgiving feast without the dead bird is still a feast—just a less potentially lethal one. Need some turkey-friendly ideas? Take a gander at the tempting recipes in the Living section of PETA.org.
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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