Turkey’s Desperate Holiday Plea to Kind Kids: ‘I’m Me, not Meat’
Gigantic PETA Banner Will Encourage Youngsters to Talk to Their Parents About Going Vegan
For Immediate Release:
November 15, 2018
Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382
What: In the run-up to Thanksgiving, a group of PETA supporters will gather outside Central Market with a giant banner that shows a turkey’s face next to the words “I’m ME, Not MEAT. Kids: Ask Your Parents About Going Vegan.”
When: Friday, November 16, 12 noon
Where: Central Market, 3815 Westheimer Rd., Houston
“Children have natural empathy for animals, so they’re horrified when they learn that gentle turkeys are just babies themselves when they’re hung upside down and slaughtered,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “This holiday season, PETA is calling on children and their parents to choose healthy and delicious vegan meals that keep cruelty off the table.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—notes that turkeys are loving parents and spirited explorers who can live up to 10 years, but those raised for food are normally slaughtered when they’re between 12 and 26 weeks old, and at least 44 million of them are killed each year for Thanksgiving alone. The young birds are hung by their feet from metal shackles and dragged through an electrified bath, and they’re often still conscious when their throats are slit and they’re dumped into scalding-hot defeathering tanks.
PETA offers a free vegan holiday guide (available here) full of recipes, tips, and more. For more information, please visit PETA.org.
