Bird Flu-Related Killing of 400,000 Turkeys Prompts PETA Memorial, Call to Go Vegan

For Immediate Release:
September 29, 2025

Contact:
Alex Payne 202-483-7382

Following reports that more than 400,000 turkeys have been killed in South Dakota because of bird flu in the last month alone, PETA plans to place a memorial in their honor in Rapid City, pointing out who’s responsible: everyone who hasn’t yet gone vegan.

Turkeys used for food are packed by the thousands into dark, filthy sheds—conditions that allow disease to spread like wildfire. Birds exposed to avian influenza are then killed in agonizing ways, including shutting off all airflow to slowly suffocate them; raising the sheds’ temperature to as high as 120 degrees, essentially baking them alive; and suffocating them with a substance similar to firefighting foam. More than 175 million chickens and turkeys have been killed in the U.S. since the current bird flu outbreak began.

“Each one of the more than 400,000 turkeys killed in South Dakota was a thinking, feeling individual who suffered a terrifying and agonizing death directly caused by the meat industry’s dangerously filthy, crowded conditions,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “PETA’s memorial urges everyone to please go vegan and keep animals out of these hotbeds of disease in the first place.”

In nature, turkeys spend their days caring for their young, building nests, foraging for food, taking dust baths, and roosting in trees, and they can live for over 10 years, but those in the meat industry are killed within their first six months of life. Workers hang the young birds upside down, drag them through an electrified bath, slit their throats, and dump them into scalding-hot water in defeathering tanks—often while they’re still conscious.

Each person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals every year, dramatically shrinks their carbon footprint, and reduces their risk of suffering from cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and obesity. PETA’s free vegan starter kit can help those 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.