The Thanksgiving episode!

In this episode, Carissa starts off by telling us about the City of Richmond’s new resolution to ban the sale of dogs at all pet stores. She was at the city council meeting this week where this law was passed, and gives a report on exactly what ensued at the meeting and what this means for the animals.

Celebrating a Compassionate Thanksgiving

In this segment, Alison starts by telling us about the history of the Thanksgiving holiday and how the consumption of the turkey came to be a part of that. Then we give some recommendations of several suitable cruelty-free “faux” turkey products that even your most carnivorous family members may enjoy, including the Tofurky Vegetarian Feast, the Field Roast Stuffed Hazelnut Cranberry Roast and Celebration Roast, and various Gardein products. And for those who want to delve into the kitchen elbow-high in wheat gluten, we also offer the option of the Un-turkey, to make by scratch. Many other recipe sources are shared, and they can be found here (below). And we touch on the touchy subjects that may inevitably arise on wanting to eat a cruelty-free Thanksgiving dinner when the rest of your family does not, and give some advice for these situations.

Tricia Barry, Communications Director, Farm Sanctuary, on Turkeys and the Adopt-A-Turkey Project

Our feature interview is with Tricia Barry, who is the Communications Director of Farm Sanctuary. Farm Sanctuary is North America’s leading farm animal protection organization, founded in the 1980s by Gene Baur and Lorri Houston. And, as you may recall, we had Gene on the show just few weeks ago.

Farm Sanctuary operates two animal rescue shelters, one in California and one in New York, and has organized the annual Adopt-A-Turkey Project since 1986. This year, superstar talk show host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres is stepping up to serve as the 2010 spokesperson for Farm Sanctuary’s Adopt-A-Turkey Project, which seeks to end the misery of commercially-raised turkeys by offering a compassionate alternative for Thanksgiving.

As well as speaking about the Adopt-a-Turkey project, Tricia gives us the details of how a typical Thanksgiving turkey is treated from conception, to growing to mass proportions on a factory farm, to being shipped to the slaughterhouse and then to the supermarkets for millions upon millions of human holiday feasts.

In addition to rescuing and adopting out animals at their shelters, Farm Sanctuary also conducts undercover investigations and pushes for legislation to improve the conditions for these animals in factory farms.

Here is a video acquired by Farm Sanctuary of an undercover investigation at one of America’s largest turkey farms, showing what exactly goes on at these facilities. A must-see for anyone planning to eat a turkey this Thanksgiving!

Download this episode.

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