New Talking Ad Asks Woofstock Festivalgoers: ‘Would You Eat Your Dog?’

Mobile Billboard Will Circle Dog Festival to Promote Compassion for … Turkeys

For Immediate Release:
September 24, 2015

Contact:
Catie Cryar 202-483-7382

A new mobile billboard—courtesy of PETA, whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—will ask everyone attending Woofstock as well as motorists passing by to consider that if you wouldn’t stuff and roast Fido and Fluffy, perhaps it’s worth giving turkeys a break, too. Just in time for Thanksgiving grocery shopping, the billboard, which features a hybrid animal—with a dog’s body and a turkey’s face—and the words “If You Wouldn’t Eat Your Dog, Why Eat a Turkey? Go Vegan,” will be outside Woofstock, the largest dog festival in North America, to greet everyone entering and leaving the event. A child’s voice on a loudspeaker will also read interesting facts about turkeys to passersby—such as that they’re sensitive, smart animals who have the ability to feel pain and know when something is wrong, just like dogs.

“Every year, more families leave the dead bird off the holiday table as they come to recognize that turkeys feel pain and form friendships, just as dogs, cats, and humans do,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA’s mobile billboard encourages festivalgoers who love their dogs to spare every animal by choosing a tasty meat-free holiday meal, and we’ve got the recipes at PETA.org.”

In 2014, Canadians ate 8.5 million whole turkeys—3.1 million were purchased for Thanksgiving alone. In nature, turkeys are protective and loving parents as well as spirited explorers who can climb trees and run as fast as 40 kilometres per hour. In the wild, they can live up to 10 years, but those on factory farms are normally slaughtered between 12 and 26 weeks of age. The young birds are hung from metal shackles by their feet and dragged through an electrified bath that can cause them to have full-body tremors. Sometimes, they’re still conscious when their throats are slit and they’re placed into a bath of scalding-hot water that’s used to remove their feathers.

For more information and fun recipes for tasty vegan Thanksgiving favourites, please visit PETA.org.