PETA Offering up to $5,000 Reward for Conviction of Any Person 'Dropping' a Turkey

Throwing a Bird From an Airplane Violates Arkansas Cruelty-to-Animals Law and Federal Law: Pilots Would Be Penalized

For Immediate Release:
October 3, 2012

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Yellville, Ark. -- Days before the annual Turkey Trot Festival, which, years ago, included a "turkey drop," in which turkeys were hurled from airplanes traveling at around 70 miles per hour and at altitudes of 1,000 feet, PETA is reminding everyone that the group will pay up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone who attempts such cruelty. Turkeys typically fly as high as only 100 feet at most. Starting last year, Federal Aviation Administration officials began monitoring the area for violations of federal law.

Reports of frightened, disoriented "dropped" birds plummeting like bricks and fatally colliding with buildings, cars, and streets occurred in years past. Birds would careen toward the ground at devastatingly high speeds, and those who did not die on impact sustained grievous injuries. This activity is in violation of both Arkansas state anti-cruelty and federal aviation laws, and PETA has called on local and federal officials to monitor the festival and Marion County Airport.

"Tossing sensitive, terrified animals out of a plane to plummet to the ground and die is as illegal as it is barbaric," says PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. "PETA is being proactive by reminding everyone that the repercussions of any 'turkey drop' could be severe—for the perpetrator, who could face jail time, and for children, who would learn a dangerous lesson of indifference to others' suffering."

For more information, please visit PETA.org.