PETA Has A Turkey For Christmas Dinner

Live Bird Will Be Guest of Honour at Vegan Holiday Feast

For Immediate Release:
19 December 2005

Contact:
Anita Singh 020 7357 9229, ext 228

Swanley – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Europe is having a turkey for Christmas, but the bird, Lofty, will be attending as a guest at the table, not on it. PETA and the staff at Retreat Animal Rescue will serve a delicious meal everyone can enjoy, including soya-based Tofurky with all the trimmings – including the greens that turkeys love and children should! Lofty, who will help the guests celebrate peace on Earth for all, dodged death by jumping off the back of a lorry heading to the abattoir where he would have been hung upside-down and had his throat slit. Lofty now happily lives out his days at Retreat Animal Rescue with dozens of other refugees, including cows, sheep, chickens, pigs, horses and geese.

Date:    Wednesday, 21 December
Time:    1 pm
Place:   Retreat Animal Rescue, Daltons Rd, Crockenhill, Swanley, Kent

Why do PETA’s feathers get ruffled when people eat turkeys? Turkeys in factory farms have been bred to grow so quickly that their bones and leg muscles often collapse under the stress of supporting their huge upper bodies. As a result, many are unable to stand or move without pain. Confinement to crowded sheds means that disease is rampant. More than 35 million turkeys are slaughtered in the UK every year, mostly for the holidays.

The suffering doesn’t end when the birds are killed. Consumption of turkey and other meats and animal products has been linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity and several types of cancer. Among the growing number of Britons who will be celebrating the holidays in vegetarian style are Chris Martin, Sadie Frost, Amanda Holden, Sir Ian McKellen, the entire McCartney clan and Joanna Lumley.

Says PETA Europe’s Anita Singh, “With fabulous fare such as Tofurky and other healthy, humane vegan foods on the market, the only one who’ll miss out is the butcher.”

For more information and to view PETA’s undercover investigation of a turkey farm, please visit PETA.org.uk. PETA’s free vegetarian starter kit full of delicious vegan recipes can be ordered online or by calling 0800 328 9621.

#