PETA's Thanksgiving Billboard Asks Sacramento Kids: Would You Eat Your Dog?

Ads Outside Schools to Promote Compassion for Turkeys

For Immediate Release:
November 9, 2012

Contact:
Sophia Charchuk 202-483-7382

Sacramento, Calif. -- How would children feel if Fido and Fluffy 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. The billboard reads, "Kids: If You Wouldn't Eat Your Dog, Why Eat a Turkey?" The group plans to run the billboard near Sacramento public schools 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 Tofurky in a heartbeat," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "This Thanksgiving, families can give all animals something to be thankful for by sticking to humane, delicious vegan meals."

Approximately 250 million turkeys are killed in the U.S. every year—more than 45 million for Thanksgiving dinners alone. In nature, turkeys are protective and loving parents as well as spirited explorers who can climb trees and run as fast as 18 miles per hour. But most turkeys slated to be killed for food are crammed into filthy warehouses, where disease, smothering, and heart attacks are common. Turkeys are drugged and bred to grow such unnaturally large upper bodies that their legs often become crippled under the weight.

To reach kids across the nation, PETA also plans to erect its billboard in Reno, Nev., and Boise, Idaho.

For more information, please visit PETA.org or click here.