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Passers-by couldn’t help but notice a nearly naked person lying next to two human-sized prosthetic “turkey carcasses” on a giant cutting board outside 505 Central Food Hall Thursday afternoon. Many lunch-goers strolling down a crowded sidewalk in downtown Albuquerque turned their heads — and then quickly pretended to look away from the Thanksgiving-themed effigy. It wouldn’t be the holidays in the U.S. without People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) reminding meat eaters that some of their favorite entrees come at a gruesome price, but the demonstrators, led by PETA Campaigner Mason Melito, certainly weren’t aggressive in their protest. Regardless of how much or how little clothing they were wearing, they put on bright smiles, remained calm and engaged onlookers with nothing but kindness — and booklets of vegan recipes.
Melito says it’s fair to call it a Thanksgiving protest. PETA’s “ThanksVegan Plea” to be exact.
“The turkeys used for food are raised on crowded, filthy factory farms where they undergo routine mutilations and are violently killed when they’re only three to five months old,” Melito says. “PETA is encouraging everyone, including Albuquerque shoppers and consumers, to leave turkeys off their plates this year.”
There were mixed reactions to seeing the actor doing his best pre-cooked turkey impression: wearing nothing but flesh-colored, skin-tight shorts and lying belly-up on the concrete, a wine glass propping up his head. Most pedestrians politely grinned and took leaflets promoting compassionate cooking. Young people gently teased the group about the deliciousness of the very birds PETA hopes to save, but others didn’t even bother to make eye contact with the group as they turned the corner, leaned on their horns and flipped everyone the bird (of the finger variety).
Melito’s hope was to reach as many shoppers as possible near food places where people have the ability to make “animal friendly, environmentally health-conscious choices with their dollar that they’re voting with.”
“They don’t have to spend their money on these products that are absolute torture and a living nightmare for turkeys and other animals,” Melito says.
Knowing how wild things can get on Central Ave. and Fifth St. any day of the year, it’s not surprising that few seemed particularly shaken by the event, but PETA’s plea was heard and definitely seen by hundreds of curious commuters who seemed, for the most part, to respect the demonstrators right to free speech. Melito and cohorts got to publicly profess their wish for happiness and a long life for all animals this holiday season, and they did it with as much class as one can while standing in front of a semi-nude bird-man and a banner displaying a meat cleaver.
“Turkeys are the same as humans in all the ways that matter. They feel love, pain, fear, and want to be able to spend every day with their families, just like we do on Thanksgiving,” Melito says.
Visit PETA’s ThanksVegan website for animal-friendly holiday recipes.