PETA to Prez: Ditch the Turkey Pardon!

The group asks the POTUS to consider the civil rights of 46 million gentle "intelligent birds"

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are hoping President Obama will extend an ethical hand to one animal in particular this holiday season: the turkey.

Justin Sink at The Hill reports on PETA's newest campaign, of sorts, which sees it pleading with Obama to stop participating in the Thanksgiving turkey pardon ritual. It's a tradition, Sink notes, that reaches back to the tenure of Abraham Lincoln.

PETA President Ingrid Newkirk drafted the letter condemning the pardon for making light of the "mass slaughter of some 46 million gentle, intelligent birds," and alerting the POTUS to the notion that the fowl are guilty of nothing apart from "being born into a world of prejudice."

"You understand well that African-Americans, women, and members of the LGBT community have been poorly served throughout history," Newkirk writes. "Now I am asking you to consider other living beings who are treated as if their feelings count for nothing."

The President is not expected to take up Newkirk's strongly worded suggestion to pass on the pardon, Sink informs us. (Besides, it's already too late...)

Via The Hill.

Posted Nov 21, 11:30am PST.

Should the White House end its turkey pardoning tradition?

[IraqWarVeteran]

Turkey will not pardon the Syrian Army for the clashes.

[PNWest]

This is a harmless tradition. It's not like he is throwing live turkeys out of a helicopter or anything.

[Realthinker]

All together now: "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly". It's a very harmless tradition.

[MRMacrum]

That was probably the funniest episode in the whole series.

[Realthinker]

@MRMacrum I agree. Wild turkeys can fly, btw, at least enough to go from the ground to the upper branches of trees where they roost at night.

[LGRepublican]

@MRMacrum Either that one or when Dr. Johnny took the alcohol reaction test.

[Lorth]

@LGRepublican - Cops got a hat, I want a hat!

[PoliticalSpice]

If I were the turkey I think I would prefer the pardon to the alternative, even if it meant I would miss out on the festive celebration at which I was to recieve so much attention...

[tomincali]

ok peta,now the he can take that turkey into the butcher. one thing i might have in common with obama,i think we both belong to the meaning of peta,"people eating tastey animals" call palin she will butcher that sucker. youbetcha.

[Realthinker]

I love turkey. I need somewhere to put the gravy. Only a Butterball makes the best gravy.

[marine1]

A true american would butcher that sucker and show america what a real Thanksgiving meal looks like.

[mudzangandoro]

Yah right!! No.

[RoyFloyd]

I'm a member of PETA--People Eating Tasty Animals. No, don't be sadistic and torture them or anything like that, but anybody who thinks turkeys (or corporations) have human rights has gotta be nuts.

[PoliticalSpice]

To deny a turkey human rights is to deny a turkeys humanity...

[SavageMazx]

Turkeys have a place in this world.....right between the mashed potatoes and the cranberry.....pass the gravy please.

[jessejaymes]

While I try to eat right, limit my meat intake, don't do junk food, few sodas, I say this. As a stereotypical Southern California health conscious person if the day ever comes that I care what Peta says just shoot me.

[stepped_in_it]

and eat me.....lol

[MRMacrum]

Keep the tradition. But I do find the notion that domesticated turkeys may be intelligent birds. Having had some experience with them as a youth doing farm work for a friend's family, I came away knowing they are number than a sack of rocks. If you wanted to harvest 1000 of them, you better start with 2000 poults. Okay that may be an exaggeration, but they are pretty damn stupid. Wild Turkeys on the other hand may not be any brighter, but they react faster to danger faster than any critter I know. And as God is my witness, I did not know they could run so fast until I tried to keep up on my bike withone in the woods. And BTW - wild turkeys fly just fine.

[DerivePI]

Intelligence is relative.

[MRMacrum]

@DerivePI - Depends on who the relatives are I guess.

[WilliamWallace]

They are hard birds to raise. Out of four birds this year I have one tom left. Two died before they were two months old and then my hogs ate the last. I guess instead of turducken I could have swurkey.

[mimi57]

@WilliamWallace LOL..Happy thanksgiving!

[WilliamWallace]

@mimi57 I wish you and everyone a happy thanksgiving as well.

[Sharpshooter]

They needed to make the request BEFORE the election.... Axelshaft's boy would pardon Hitler if he thought it would get him a vote.

[DARSB]

Here's my favorite turkey-pardoning by a politician.http://goo.gl/qpdVp

[MRMacrum]

Clueless to the end. That's our Sarah.

[seedtick]

Isn't there something more important to talk about?

[Your_Name_Here]

PETA needs to realize that animals were intended to be eaten by people and that's why they taste like meat! Sometimes animals eat people but that's life in the wild.:)

[Winterbourne]

PETA will make no progress in changing the minds of men as long as they are so extreme and juvinille. Humans eat meat, and our systems are designed for it.

I believe we should respect and honor all life, which is where the origin of saying grace over your meal comes from. As higher functioning beings capable of that, we should do so. However, PETA shows itself repeatedly to be out of touch with the natural order of biology and human society. What a shame.

[mimi57]

I love all animals, and sometimes PETA has a point...and then they get all crazy, about flies, turkeys, etc.. and that
takes away all their credibility. I hope everyone has a great turkey, including the POTUS.

[Huntfoodfish]

I will not let the torture af any animal occur in my presence: I am all about one-shot/one-kill. Bullet/hatchet placement is crucial in ensuring a quick death free from extended suffering to the animals we eat. PETA, we are humans. We are given stewardship over all creatures, and have been given the blessing of our Creator, God, to eat animals. Say my name!!!

[Fitz]

Keep the tradition. Just stay away from squirrel gravy, ( hence the profile pic.)

[rabidwolf]

Ok I would drop it then have a turkey shoot on the white house lawn....let their heads explode

[redmerlot]

It is public overtures like this that make PETA the laughing stock of all public policy organizations. To place an animal in the same group as the LGBT or minority groups struggling for equal rights is a blatant insult to the seriousness of those other groups' plight. Sorry, Ms. Newkirk, but blacks did not march in the streets in the 1960s, to be spit on and have rocks hurled at them, to earn their rights, only to have an idiot like you try to put them in the same category as turkeys.

I'm glad to see that most of the other posts in here are making light of PETA's request. Chow down, America. Turkeys are good eatin'!

[Dan_Tien]

I would like to alert the POTUS to the notion that the fowl are guilty of nothing apart from "being born delicious." I will respect anyone's right to live on an all vegetable diet, as long as they respect the feelings of the vegetables that they slaughter and respect my God given right to exercise my canines and incisors.