In some good news, it looks like more people are choosing to have a cruelty-free Thanksgiving, as turkey sales drop at two major poultry companies. Sales of tofurkey and vegan options are on the rise. This Thanksgiving, the LA Dodgers gave away 100 vegan turkeys to raise awareness.

The tragic thing is that losses at both companies won’t restore the lives of turkeys who have died. Both the companies mentioned in this Live Kindly article have put their vegan lines in competition with their poultry products. An oversupply of turkeys means a loss for the company, but also meaningless loss of life and/or miserable lives for turkeys on farms. Even a turkey farm owner whose company is fighting Direct Action Everywhere activists in court has taken it upon himself to release birds to the activists. The truce came about through an unlikely friendship between the farm owner and the head of DxE. DxE activists are facing 60 years for releasing turkeys (the owner of the farm isn’t in favor of the charges).

Until recently, turkeys were not treated like living beings. They were symbolic to humans at best and fuel at worst. Turkeys were even thrown out of planes at the infamous Yellville Turkey Trot – a sport, and a joke because they couldn’t fly. The trend for a cruelty-free Thanksgiving shows that we are moving away from these terrible times, but casual cultural traditions like the White House turkey pardon make it apparent that we still have far to go. Consider encouraging your family and friends to start a cruelty-free Thanksgiving tradition next year and beyond!