It’s Canadian Thanksgiving and PETA wants kids to tell their parents turkey is not an option.
In new billboards set up near Winnipeg elementary schools, PETA is using children to spread their message that humans should eat fewer animals.
Canadians ate 7.3 million turkeys last year, 2.6 million of whom were killed for Thanksgiving alone.
In nature, turkeys are protective and loving parents as well as spirited explorers who can climb trees and run as fast as 40 kilometers per hour.
In the wild, turkeys can live up to 10 years, but those raised for food are normally slaughtered when they’re between 12 and 26 weeks old according to PETA.
Children have a natural empathy for animals, so they’d be horrified to learn that gentle turkeys are babies themselves when they’re strung upside down and slaughtered,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “This Thanksgiving, PETA is calling on children and their parents to keep cruelty off the table.”