Introducing peta2's Holiday Survival Guide! November 20, 2009

Posted by Rachel-O at November 20, 2009 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBack

The holidays are coming up—you know what that means! For me, it's lots of Tofurky, vegan pumpkin pie, and spending time with friends—but it wasn't always that way. I first went vegan around Thanksgiving because of how disturbed I was by the dinner centerpiece—a headless, oversized, stuffed dead bird. But let's face it, it's not always easy being vegan around the holidays, especially if you have a family like mine that wanted to know why I wasn't eating their food, what I would eat instead, and why I'd made such a "crazy" decision.

Every year we receive thousands of e-mails from Street Teamers who are facing the same dilemma, and this year, peta2 is coming to the rescue with our brand new holiday survival guide.

Click to check out the guide!

The guide features advice on some common situations you might run into over the holiday season, and it also includes recipes to help you veganize holiday favorites. If you can't win them over with your words, you can definitely win them over with our cruelty-free versions of pumpkin pie, snickerdoodles, and chex mix! Download peta2's holiday survival guide now! It even includes a holiday Nugget poster—who doesn't love that?

E-mail us at StreetTeam@peta2.com and let us know what recipe you made (and for who), and we'll give you 500 Street Team points! Want even more points? Snap a pic with the super-cute Nugget poster that's included with the guide and post it on Facebook or hang it on your locker or door, and send us a pic for 1,000 points!

If you're feeling the pressure and need some inspiration, we've got that covered too. Last Thanksgiving, PETA released our undercover investigation into Aviagen, a company who breeds some of the nearly 270 million turkeys are killed for food every year in the US. Investigators documented employees stomped on turkeys' heads, punching turkeys, hitting them on the head with a can of spray paint and pliers, and striking turkeys' heads against metal scaffolding. The best way for you to fight this abuse is by not eating turkeys, and by using the advice in our guide to help educate your family on why you're choosing to be cruelty free!

Happy (cruelty free) holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving, Canada! October 12, 2009

Posted by Rachel-O at October 12, 2009 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 7 ) | TrackBack

Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!

Remember:

If you haven't already, please pledge not to eat turkey this holiday.


P.S. If you're still scrambling for a cruelty free idea for dinner this holiday, impress your family with these recipes! Turkeys everywhere will thank you!

Turkey Abusers Convicted: One Jailed! June 29, 2009

Posted by Rachel-O at June 29, 2009 9:06 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 28 ) | TrackBack

We're starting this week off with another historic victory for animals! Check out this blog from PETA's Karin Bennet!

Late last year, some factory-farm employees were fired from Aviagen Turkeys, Inc. in response to PETA's undercover investigation, which documented that workers were breaking turkeys' necks, stomping on their heads, and shoving feces and feed into turkeys' mouths.

Then, in February, a grand jury handed down 19 indictments, including 11 felony charges, against three former Aviagen workers, marking the first time in U.S. history that factory-farm employees have faced felony cruelty-to-animals charges for abusing birds.

Fast forward: Two of the three ex-employees, Scott Alvin White and Edward Eric Gwinn, recently pleaded guilty to cruelty charges. On June 8, White was sentenced to serve one year in jail—the maximum period permitted by law! Today, Gwinn was sentenced to serve six months' home confinement—the maximum period permitted by law—on each count, concurrently, and is banned from living with, owning, and working with animals for five years. The case against the third ex-employee, Walter Lee Hambrick, is pending.

These historic victories by no means even the score for the turkeys who were punched and thrown or the many other birds who suffered when they were forced to watch as other turkeys were abused at Aviagen. After watching our undercover video, animal behavior expert Dr. Lesley J. Rogers stated, "It is now known that when social animals, like turkeys, see and hear other members of their species under stress or suffering physical injury, their levels of stress become elevated. Hence, the behavioural stress is widespread in the birds in the vicinity of those that have been injured and/or handled roughly."

Still, these convictions will remind workers on other factory farms that if they don't clean up their acts, PETA investigators (and the whistleblowers who tip us off) will have their eyes on them.

Victory: First-Ever Felony Charges of Cruelty to Factory-Farmed Birds! February 5, 2009

Posted by Rachel-O at February 5, 2009 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 15 ) | TrackBack

This was just posted on the main PETA blog and we wanted to share it with you!:


In a huge victory for animals, a grand jury has issued 19 indictments for cruelty to animals against three former employees of Aviagen Turkeys, Inc. And it gets better—11 of the indictments are on felony charges. This marks the first time in U.S. history that factory-farm employees have faced felony cruelty-to-animals charges for abusing birds.

These indictments are the result of PETA's undercover investigation at Aviagen's factory farms in West Virginia, which uncovered workers stomping, kicking, throwing, and killing turkeys in unimaginably cruel ways.

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Our investigator's video footage was seen by the West Virginia State Police, whose investigator then conducted his own prompt and thorough investigation, leading to these indictments in Greenbrier County. Next stop: Monroe County, where we expect additional charges to be filed for similar acts committed there.

It's great to see the authorities take this case seriously. But Aviagen itself? Not so much.

As you may recall, a couple of weeks back, a whistleblower told us that some of the turkey torturers were still employed by Aviagen, despite the company's promise to fire all the workers caught violating its purported animal-welfare policies. PETA's letter to the company president about this has gone unanswered. And Aviagen has refused to give any specific details about the actions it claims to have taken. So, as far as we can tell, Aviagen hasn't yet implemented even one of the seven improvements we suggested to them. If you're as riled about this as we are, please take a minute to ask Aviagen executives to stop sitting on their thumbs and take some specific steps toward preventing the continued torture of birds in the company's sheds.

Bet these indictments have got them sitting up and paying attention, though. And not just at Aviagen (I'm looking at you, Butterball, Pilgrims Pride, and Tyson). And I suspect the charges might make those drumsticks a little harder for some folks to swallow too.

Sexy Pilgrims, Giant Turkeys, & Delicious Food November 24, 2008

Posted by Marta at November 24, 2008 1:03 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 5 ) | TrackBack

The holidays are a great time to get vegetarianism on people's minds. How are we doing that here at PETA? Well, besides reaching out to people online through investigations, videos, and games, PETA is also out on the road, asking people to leave meat off their plates this Thanksgiving.

Here are our 'Sexy Pilgrims' handing out Tofurky samples and hot cider in Fargo, ND:

And our cute 'Turkeys' giving out Tofurkys to curious passersby in Denver, CO:




Both demos got covered by local media, which is great, because that means even more people learned about the delicious vegetarian options that are available!

So, what will you be devouring on Thanksgiving? For those of you who have trouble convincing your family to eat vegetarian, be sure to go grocery shopping with your parents and help make dinner. Maybe your parents will be more inclined to veganize dishes since you're so willing to help! I know that definitely works in my family. Here are some of my suggestions:

• Try soymilk and vegan butter/margarine in mashed potatoes—the potatoes will still be creamy and delicious (I like lots of garlic in mine, too).
• Use tofu in your pumpkin pie. Tofu soaks up the flavor of whatever it's cooked with, so no one will be the wiser!
• Knock people's socks off with this cranberry salsa (seriously, everyone I know that's tried it loves it). Feel free to make without the vegan cream cheese—it's just as delish.
• Ask for a Tofurky. Hey—there's no harm in asking, right?

For more suggestions, check this out. And if you have a tip you want to share with us all, comment with it below.




P.S. Fur-Free Friday is this Friday! Get excited!

Turkey Pardon Fail, Starring Sarah Palin November 21, 2008

Posted by Marta at November 21, 2008 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 18 ) | TrackBack

The moose-hunting, fur-wearing, pro-aerial-wolf-gunning governor is in the news again. On Thursday, Sarah Palin visited a turkey farm in Wasilla for the traditional pre-Thanksgiving turkey "pardoning." Now, most people probably don't think about exactly how the turkeys raised for Thanksgiving dinner every year meet their maker. But not to worry. Sarah has that under control. In this video, while responding to a reporter who asks about her post-election plans, Palin talks about how she wants to "promote a local business" and do something that won't "invite criticism." While turkeys are being slaughtered. Behind her. ON CAMERA.

Was that one of those "gotcha" questions, Sarah? Because it seems to me that showing the bloody reality of slaughter is just about the worst thing you could do to promote this business. Some people just won't want to eat turkey after watching—especially when this happened the day after PETA released new undercover video from the world's leading poultry-breeding facility. In that video, workers stomp on turkeys' heads, punch them, and bang their heads against metal scaffolding.

This is a country of people who love animals—in fact, 97 percent of Americans believe that farmed animals deserve to be protected from abuse. The more that people are confronted with the ways that animals who are raised for food suffer—from the moment they're born until the moment they're killed—the more that people will start thinking about giving vegetarian meals a try. And then the factory farming industry will need a bigger bailout than the "Big Three."

-Dan

P.S. Sarah Palin should take a cue from our own "President Bush," whose turkey-pardoning this year really was a "mission accomplished."

Undercover Investigator Unveils New Turkey Investigation November 18, 2008

Posted by Marta at November 18, 2008 5:39 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 14 ) | TrackBack

We have a brand-new investigation of a turkey factory farm, and we wanted to let the investigator introduce it to you himself. See what he has to say, then please check out the video.
—Marta

The alarm clock on my cell blares out at 1 a.m. I twist in pain. It can't be time to get up yet. I hit the snooze button twice. Finally I roll over and rub my face with my hands, feeling the calloused-over blisters scratching my cheeks. The insides of my eyes and nose hurt from the dust that I could not wash out from the hours I worked yesterday in the barns where turkeys spend their entire lives.

They are crammed into pens, sometimes 600 or 800 to a pen. There are almost 8,000 turkeys in one barn. Each of these turkey farms has two or three barns. The dust inside the barns is sickening. I can't even go in without a respirator mask. I cough and choke from not being able to breathe. I see the turkeys panting much of the time. I think about grabbing one of them and carrying her outside and putting her in the grass where she could breathe and walk freely. It is so sad that they are reduced to this miserable existence just to make some profit.

There are times when I have to hold back the tears. To see the workers torture these animals is infuriating. Today we are loading a truck with male turkeys who have been bred to weigh 80-plus pounds—the same weight as my 10-year-old cousin. I will spend the next four hours watching men slam them into cages on the back of a semi truck in temperatures near 20°F. I have seen these guys stomp turkeys' heads on the concrete. The sound of cracking beaks and breaking bones makes me cringe, but I can show no emotion. I am forced to watch in silent pain as these innocent lives are being destroyed.

Turkey factory farms endorse suffering. They sell death. They make money on abuse. They do not want to show people what happens here. Everyone should know what happens here. I have spent two and a half months in hell so that people will know what it means to have a turkey on the table. Watch the video, and show people the truth. Make this world a better place by reducing pain and suffering. And please do not eat turkey this Thanksgiving.

peta2's New Parody Game: Mama Kills Animals November 17, 2008

Posted by Marta at November 17, 2008 8:39 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 9 ) | TrackBack

I'm not what you'd call a video game junkie—mostly because I don't give myself the opportunity to be. I get sucked in too easily!

That aside, I absolutely love all the peta2 games we have! I know, I know, I'm probably a bit biased, but seriously, they're awesome. So I'm super-excited to get to tell you guys about our brand-new game! Mama Kills Animals is peta2's brand-new parody of the popular Nintendo game Cooking Mama.

In the game, you can pluck a turkey, chop off his head, stuff him, and more, all to help Mama prepare a Thanksgiving feast. But beware: Things will get bloody. What better time than right before Thanksgiving to get all your friends and family to play this game and see how gruesome it really is to "prepare" a turkey dinner?

So go on, play it now, then pass it on to everyone you know. And also, if you add this banner to your page, you can get 500 Street Team points if you e-mail the link to your page to StreetTeam@peta2.com.

<a href="http://www.peta2.com/cooking-mama/index.asp?c=p23211"><img src= "http://www.peta2.com/cooking-mama/images/banner.gif" alt="Cooking Mama, The Unauthorized peta2 Edition: Mama Kills Animals" border="0" height="300" width="400" /></a>
Okay, so tell me, are you meaner than mama? Get playing to find out!

♥ Marta

P.S. I hope you make it to the bonus level. You'll love it!

Is President Bush Showing Support for Turkeys? November 12, 2008

Posted by Marta at November 12, 2008 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 3 ) | TrackBack

You know how the president "pardons" two turkeys each Thanksgiving? This year's ceremony marks the 61st anniversary of the presidential turkey pardon, and well, though it's great that two turkeys are spared from becoming someone's main course, what about the rest of the turkeys? I think they deserve the same pardon. A certain someone couldn't agree with me more, and to see for yourself, check out what he has to say in this video:

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Heh, OK—so that's not actually President Bush, but there were some good points made in the video—like the fact that turkeys like to have their feathers stroked (hmm...sounds similar to the dogs and cats you share your home with, right?). If your family is still set on having a real turkey as part of its Thanksgiving tradition, ask them to adopt a turkey instead.

Be sure to pass the video along to your family—and while you're at it, why not include these vegetarian holiday recipes? 'Creamy' Chive Mashed Potatoes? Heck yes.

This Thanksgiving, wouldn't it be amazing if, instead of having a dead bird as the centerpiece, every household had a scrumptious Tofurky Roast (or some other equally delectable meat-free turkey alternative)?

♥ Marta

Win a Free Tofurky for Thanksgiving! November 3, 2008

Posted by Marta at November 3, 2008 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 486 ) | TrackBack

If you're anything like me, the thought of having a big, dead, stuffed bird as the centerpiece of your Thanksgiving meal is definitely cringe-inducing—and I'm sure the 300 million turkeys raised and killed for their flesh each year in the US aren't thrilled at the thought, either.

Lucky for you, me, and the turkeys, there are lots of alternatives available, including one of my favorites, Tofurky!

Here are my top five reasons you should eat a Tofurky this year:

• No animal was tortured in the making of a Tofurky.
• No one has to stick her/his hand up a turkey's butt. Tofurkys don't have butts.
• Murder should never be cause for celebration.
• Tofurky roasts are available practically everywhere. Seriously, check this out.
• Turkeys will be thankful.

With all that in mind, we want to give you a chance to win a Tofurky this Thanksgiving to share with your family! That's right, five of you lucky people will win a Tofurky Roast, with a side of "Giblet" and Mushroom gravy—it's delicious on top of the sliced Tofurky Roast!


All you gotta do is blog about why you won't be eating turkeys this Thanksgiving (for all of your friends to see!), then leave a link to your blog as a comment below. By commenting with your link, you'll be entered to win one of five Tofurky Roasts with gravy.

The contest ends on November 19 and winners will be selected and notified the same day. Winners will have the choice of free shipping from anywhere in the Continental U.S. or a VIP coupon that will allow them to pick up their prize at a local grocery store.

Just so you know...by commenting here, you're acknowledging that you've read and agreed to our privacy policy.

Also by commenting, you are agreeing to the following terms and conditions.

Mmm! Good luck!

♥ Marta

P.S. For some delicious vegetarian Thanksgiving recipes, check this out.