Nov. 20, 2008
On Saturday, the turkeys will be the guests of honor at the Farm Sanctuary in Orland, not as the centerpiece on the table, but as beloved and respected animals.
The California shelter will host a fully-catered, vegan Thanksgiving for $40 a person, said the Communication Director of Farm Sanctuary Tricia Barry.
"This is a way for people to celebrate a compassionate Thanksgiving without killing an animal," Barry said.
This is the largest vegan event in the U.S., she said. The group is expecting over 300 people, and tickets are almost sold out.
Farm Sanctuary was founded in 1986 to combat the abuses of industrialized farming and to encourage a new awareness and understanding about farm animals, according to animalshelter.org.
About 45 million turkeys are killed during the holiday in the U.S., Barry said.
"It's become an annual event for a lot of families," she said. "Thanksgiving can be depressing for many vegan or vegetarian families."
Farm Sanctuary urges people to consider trying a vegan life style, not just for themselves, but also for animals and the environment, she said.
"A vegan that drives a hummer leaves a smaller ecological footprint on the planet than a meat-eater with a Prius," Barry said.
All the Turkeys at Farm Sanctuary are rescued birds, she said.
Two years ago 11-day-old turkeys, or "poults," were rescued from an air cargo disaster. The 11 survivors were a lucky few out of the 9,000 rest, she said.
The animals are available for adoption to families that have enough space for their chosen animal and can prove that they are vegetarians; otherwise the animals can live out the rest of their lives at Farm Sanctuary, Barry said.
Contrary to popular belief, turkeys are actually agile, fast and smart birds, she said. Farm Sanctuary allows people to meet these birds and see what they're like.
Farm Sanctuary is the nations' largest animal protection agency, she said. It was also one of the biggest advocates for Proposition 2 and donated $300 thousand to the cause.
"This year should be especially festive because people are excited about the win on Prop 2," Barry said.
The Thanksgiving event also features the celebrity and animal rights activist Emily Deschanel from the Fox's "Bones," she said.
Farm Sanctuary is a non-profit organization so most of the money goes to the provided feast, and everything else goes back into the care for the animals, Barry said.
Linda Fleming has made visiting Farm Sanctuary a family tradition and is excited to attend the vegan Thanksgiving, she said.
When she goes to Farm Sanctuary, it reminds her that the animals are living, feeling creatures that get excited, happy and sad just like humans, Fleming said.
"These Turkeys are the lucky ones that won't be tortured by getting sent across the country in small tightly packed containers, slaughtered and then eaten," she said.
For Flemings' six-year-old son Thanksgiving has never been about eating a turkey, she said. Instead it's about feeding them.
"I've been a vegetarian a long, long, long time and now my son is also," Fleming said. "I don't want animals to die for me to eat."
Brian French, Flemings' life partner, eats meat at this point in his life, but has a big problem with the cruelty to farm animals in the U.S.
At Farm Sanctuary it's nice to see animals treated with love and respect instead of as a product, French said.
"The way animals are treated in this country, it's like the humans in the movie 'The Matrix,'" French said. "But unlike farm animals in the United States, at least the humans are oblivious to their cruel world."
Joel Hersch can be reached at jhersch@theorion.com
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