TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa Transit buses are featuring an appeal from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for Thanksgiving.
The appeal reads, "If you wouldn't eat your dog, why eat a turkey?" It aims to bring attention to the cruel conditions turkeys undergo before being killed prematurely for Thanksgiving celebrations.
“A growing number of people are rejecting killing animals to celebrate anything, and they find it beyond inappropriate to do so when there are wonderful vegan options,” said PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “Turkeys desire to live in peace, not in pieces, as they, like us, feel pain, fear, love, and joy, and they don’t deserve to be reduced to a holiday meal.”
PETA said every Thanksgiving, 46 million turkeys between 14 and 18 weeks old are killed in America.
"During their short lives, they are forced to stand in their own waste and are bred to grow so large so quickly that their legs give out. At the slaughterhouse, workers hang the young birds upside down, drag them through an electrified bath, slit their throats, and dump them into scalding-hot defeathering tanks—often while they’re still conscious," PETA said.
PETA organizers claim Tulsa Transit rejected the campaign twice, calling it "controversial" and "not appropriate." They said when Tulsa Transit first rejected the appeal, PETA pointed to First Amendment rights violations, and the agency agreed to run the ad in March.
Tulsa Transit adopted a new policy in April and notified PETA in August they were rejecting the ad based on the new policy, PETA officials claim.
The animal rights organization filed an Open Records Request to learn more about the policy, and Tulsa Transit reversed its decision, PETA officials said.
2 News reached out to Tulsa Transit and will update this story when we learn more.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- SUBSCRIBE on YouTube
