Published Letters and Op-Eds from
COK’s Writers Group

Spare the bird on Thanksgiving

Montgomery County Gazette
November 26,  2008

This Thanksgiving, a growing number of people are taking part in a compassionate tradition by celebrating with vegetarian feast that everyone can be thankful for, including turkeys.

Each year in the United States, more than 250 million turkeys are raised and killed for food, more than 65 million of whom are killed during the winter holiday season alone. To most people's surprise, turkeys are social and inquisitive birds with individual personalities. Yet on today's factory farms, from the moment they are hatched, turkeys are forced to endure conditions so cruel, it would lead to prosecution if those same abuses were inflicted upon the cats and dogs with whom we share their homes.

Thanksgiving tradition is about celebrating life, and millions of Americans are doing so by carving into a vegetarian Tofurky instead of a dead bird. For more information, including great tips to help make compassion the centerpiece of your holiday feast, visit www.TryVeg.com

Erica Meier, Takoma Park

The writer is executive director of Compassion Over Killing