Current Press Releases

November is Adopt-A-Turkey Month
Humane Organization Encourages People to Adopt a Turkey, Not Eat One

Watkins Glen, NY - November 8, 2004 - What's the best way to stuff a turkey? Any animal advocate will tell you: Pumpkin pie, stuffed squash, salad and cranberries. But there's one catch - the birds will be stuffing themselves! Farm Sanctuary, the nation's leading farm animal rescue and protection organization, is asking people to feed a turkey this Thanksgiving, rather than eat one.

Farm Sanctuary's annual Adopt-A-Turkey Project offers two ways for people to save turkeys during the Thanksgiving holiday:

1) Sponsor "adopt" a turkey who lives at Farm Sanctuary's New York or California shelters for farm animals. Sponsors receive a color photograph of their turkey and an adoption certificate. The one-time adoption fee of $20 provides funds for feed, bedding and veterinary care for the turkeys.

2) Home adopt and provide a safe, permanent and loving home for two or more turkeys. Individuals adopting turkeys as companions must complete an adoption application. Approved adopters will be placed on the group's Turkey Express schedule.

Since Farm Sanctuary's unique holiday project began in 1986, hundreds of turkeys have been rescued, and thousands of people have decided to celebrate turkeys as friends, and not the main course. This holiday season, millions of compassionate consumers will sit down to a vegetarian Thanksgiving feast across America.
Public Celebrations FOR the Turkeys, where turkeys are the guests of honor, are part of Farm Sanctuary's annual Adopt-a-Turkey Project, which encourages people to SAVE a turkey for the Thanksgiving holiday. On November 20, 2004 hundreds of animal advocates will gather to feed turkeys, rather than eat turkeys, at Farm Sanctuary's annual Thanksgiving Celebrations FOR the Turkeys at our shelters in Watkins Glen, NY and Orland, CA. The unique alternative to the traditional Thanksgiving feast is a fun-filled day of shelter tours, guest presentations, a delicious vegetarian holiday meal, and a ceremonial "feeding of the turkeys." Guests will dine on "Tofurky" and other vegetarian cuisine, and dozens of rescued turkeys will be the guests of honor enjoying a feast of their own-with a holiday table just for the turkeys full of their favorite foods.

The group encourages people to enjoy a meatless Thanksgiving, since a vegetarian diet is good for turkeys and people alike. Turkeys and other birds are not covered under the federal "Humane Slaughter Act", and they are excluded from most state anti-cruelty laws. Not only do vegetarians each save approximately 93 animals every year from the cruelty of factory farms and slaughterhouses, they also live, on average, six years longer than meat eaters, and have significantly less rates of heart disease, cancer and obesity.

For more information on Farm Sanctuary's Adopt-A-Turkey Project, visit: www.AdoptATurkey.org.

About Farm Sanctuary
Farm Sanctuary is the nation's leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the "food animal" industry through research and investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts. Farm Sanctuary shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Orland, Calif., provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals, who have become ambassadors for farm animals everywhere by educating visitors about the realities of factory farming. Additional information can be found at www.farmsanctuary.org or by calling 607-583-2225.