1 00:00:00,110 --> 00:00:03,639 President Obama: Happy Thanksgiving and welcome to the White House. 2 00:00:03,639 --> 00:00:07,020 Tomorrow is one of the best days of the year to be an American. 3 00:00:08,100 --> 00:00:12,520 It’s a day to count our blessings, spend time with the ones we love, and enjoy some 4 00:00:12,530 --> 00:00:15,110 good food and some great company. 5 00:00:15,110 --> 00:00:18,580 But it’s also one of the worst days of the year to be a turkey. 6 00:00:19,780 --> 00:00:21,940 They don’t have it so good. 7 00:00:21,940 --> 00:00:27,000 The rare exception of course are the two birds who've joined me today. 8 00:00:34,980 --> 00:00:39,720 Hi it's Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget. 9 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:43,940 Every year, the President of the United States pardons two turkeys from being slaughtered 10 00:00:43,940 --> 00:00:45,400 for Thanksgiving. 11 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:49,940 But what most people don’t realize about this supposedly lighthearted tradition is 12 00:00:49,940 --> 00:00:53,800 that the majority of pardoned turkeys die within a year of their pardon. 13 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:59,079 And this year, as in several times before, the two presidential turkeys will come from 14 00:00:59,079 --> 00:01:01,839 my state—Iowa. 15 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:08,260 Two days ago I was at a turkey slaughterhouse in Iowa, where over 20,000 turkeys a day are killed. 16 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:10,280 They were terrified. 17 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:12,810 Sitting in the cold for hours upon hours. 18 00:01:12,810 --> 00:01:15,580 Covered and feces and sores. 19 00:01:15,580 --> 00:01:19,700 One with a growth the size of a basketball on her chest. 20 00:01:20,190 --> 00:01:24,740 I stayed with them for hours and streamed footage live to the channel to share their 21 00:01:24,740 --> 00:01:28,420 stories on the last day of their lives. 22 00:01:28,420 --> 00:01:32,160 You can see those videos to be with them here. [See upper right corner] 23 00:01:33,780 --> 00:01:40,060 The turkeys we eat are bred to grow very large very fast and are slaughtered at around 18-20 24 00:01:40,060 --> 00:01:41,439 weeks of age. 25 00:01:41,439 --> 00:01:46,780 Because they’re so unnaturally large, those with the good fortune of being pardoned die 26 00:01:46,780 --> 00:01:49,770 from typically obesity-related complications. 27 00:01:49,770 --> 00:01:54,950 And as for where they get to live out the brief remainder of their lives? 28 00:01:54,950 --> 00:02:00,430 Destinations have ranged from Disneyland, to Mount Vernon, to this place, and now…here, 29 00:02:00,430 --> 00:02:04,700 where the public gets to ogle them in their enclosures. 30 00:02:04,700 --> 00:02:10,090 This extravagant production, run by the lobbyist organization the National Turkey Federation, 31 00:02:10,090 --> 00:02:15,380 essentially serves as an extended governmental infomercial for the turkey industry. 32 00:02:15,380 --> 00:02:21,620 The Federation’s annual turkey gifting began more or less in 1947 when angry farmers sent 33 00:02:21,620 --> 00:02:27,420 crates of live hens to President Truman in protest of his failed “poutlryless Thursday” 34 00:02:27,420 --> 00:02:31,000 attempt to reduce national meat and egg consumption. 35 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,030 But it doesn’t take a president to pardon a turkey. 36 00:02:34,030 --> 00:02:38,810 And as you can see, it’s not much of a reprieve after all. 37 00:02:38,810 --> 00:02:44,099 To show you how it’s really done, and shine some light on this dark holiday—founded 38 00:02:44,099 --> 00:02:49,680 upon the massacre of an entire people, who still mourn the loss of their families while 39 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:51,849 others gather in celebration with their own. 40 00:02:51,849 --> 00:02:57,760 I want to share with you a story of hope from Rowdy Girl Sanctuary in Texas. 41 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:04,750 The following video was created by the incredible film making team Chee Wei and Alana Tompson. 42 00:03:04,750 --> 00:03:12,890 You’ll hear Rowy Girl Founder Renee mention FFA, which along with 4-H is pro-farming agricultural 43 00:03:12,890 --> 00:03:17,950 youth program, teaching children how to raise, care for and show so-called “food” animals 44 00:03:17,950 --> 00:03:20,240 before sending them to slaughter. 45 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:25,530 To hear more about other FFA and 4H survivors, see this video about the residents of 46 00:03:25,530 --> 00:03:26,920 Rowdy Girl Sanctuary. 47 00:03:28,340 --> 00:03:30,620 [Phone Rings] 48 00:03:30,620 --> 00:03:32,660 Renee: Hi, Is this Lillie? 49 00:03:32,661 --> 00:03:35,601 This is Renee King Sonnen with the Rowdy Girl Sanctuary. 50 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:37,500 I have a strange request. 51 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:09,560 Renee: Right now, we are going to rescue two 52 00:04:09,580 --> 00:04:14,220 turkeys that would have been slaughtered through the FFA system. 53 00:04:14,220 --> 00:04:19,811 We saw a flyer in a health food store a couple of days ago advertising these two turkeys 54 00:04:19,811 --> 00:04:21,680 for sale for fifty dollars each. 55 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:28,430 We grabbed the flyer, took it off the wall, left and straight away called and talked to 56 00:04:28,430 --> 00:04:31,669 the lady to see if she would pardon these two turkeys. 57 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:35,420 Renee: Hi 58 00:04:35,420 --> 00:04:36,560 Lillie: Hey! How are you doing? 59 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:38,479 Renee: So good to meet you 60 00:04:38,479 --> 00:04:44,599 Renee: In Texas and other parts of the country, FFA is a real valued, traditional and cultural 61 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:46,439 experience for our youth. 62 00:04:46,439 --> 00:04:50,879 But of course folks who really, really love animals and choose not to participate in any 63 00:04:50,879 --> 00:04:52,949 of the violence towards them at all. 64 00:04:52,949 --> 00:04:59,520 We are just elated that she said 'Yes' to pardoning the last two that she has. 65 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:03,060 Renee: So they just got out of the FFA? 66 00:05:03,060 --> 00:05:05,380 Lillie: Yeah! the Fair, the Brazoria County Fair 67 00:05:05,380 --> 00:05:06,260 Renee: So you had how many? 68 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:07,320 Lillie: We had twenty. 69 00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:07,820 Renee: Twenty! 70 00:05:08,140 --> 00:05:12,680 Lillie: I have three kids so, we had nine in the show. 71 00:05:13,100 --> 00:05:16,639 Renee: So had you have any that, when they were ready to take them all away… 72 00:05:16,639 --> 00:05:20,119 I heard that they call it the trail of tears, you know, when they go and … 73 00:05:20,180 --> 00:05:21,720 Lillie: don’t know.. 74 00:05:23,020 --> 00:05:25,020 Anna is getting to keep her rabbit... 75 00:05:25,020 --> 00:05:26,020 Renee: really?! 76 00:05:26,020 --> 00:05:29,349 Lillie: So, her rabbit that made eleventh out of eighty four she’s going to keep him 77 00:05:29,349 --> 00:05:31,270 and he’s going to live here forever. 78 00:05:31,270 --> 00:05:32,639 Renee: Awww! that’s so awesome! 79 00:05:32,639 --> 00:05:38,479 Lillie: we can compromise when we can but these were bred for certain purpose and that’s what... 80 00:05:38,990 --> 00:05:40,590 Renee: You got to and you get that— 81 00:05:40,590 --> 00:05:42,420 Lillie: Yes I have to have that mentality. 82 00:05:42,420 --> 00:05:44,760 Renee: Yeah! you have to have that mentality to do it. Exactly! 83 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:46,020 Lillie: Yeah, otherwise I just don’t... 84 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:48,840 Renee: You lose your mind Lillie: I wouldn’t do it! 85 00:05:49,140 --> 00:05:52,440 I wouldn’t do it! I wouldn’t raise them if I—you know... 86 00:05:52,479 --> 00:05:53,479 Renee: No!... 87 00:05:53,479 --> 00:05:56,379 Renee: You are so awesome to be doing this with us Lillie: Yep 88 00:05:56,740 --> 00:05:57,940 Renee: Can I give you another Hug? 89 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:03,140 [Heartwarming Music continues] 90 00:06:36,940 --> 00:06:41,780 Renee: It was such an experience to see this woman open her heart and pardon those 91 00:06:41,789 --> 00:06:42,789 two turkeys. 92 00:06:42,789 --> 00:06:47,649 To see the other turkeys that were destined to be Thanksgiving dinner was really sad. 93 00:06:47,649 --> 00:06:51,319 You know, we really wanted all of them 94 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:56,360 Tommy: You can’t save them all. 95 00:06:56,360 --> 00:07:01,459 There’s probably 80 Million turkeys that are going to be harvested in the next 96 00:07:01,459 --> 00:07:04,319 few weeks for Thanksgiving dinner this year. 97 00:07:07,260 --> 00:07:09,300 Renee: These turkeys are so inquisitive. 98 00:07:09,300 --> 00:07:13,960 And they have personalities, you know, they love life, they want to live! 99 00:07:16,249 --> 00:07:21,409 Renee: Thanksgiving is a time when families all get together nieces, nephew, uncles. 100 00:07:21,409 --> 00:07:23,420 Families call, they come from all over. 101 00:07:24,140 --> 00:07:29,120 You may not see these family members but that one time a year, so it really is a celebration 102 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:30,540 of love. 103 00:07:32,260 --> 00:07:35,260 [Uplifting Music] 104 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:47,500 Renee: This year, this Thanksgiving, these two Turkeys are going to be celebrated so 105 00:07:47,509 --> 00:07:52,610 that instead of giving thanks for a turkey on our plate, we are going to thanks for these 106 00:07:52,610 --> 00:07:56,650 turkeys and we are going to be giving them a Thanksgiving Dinner to remember! 107 00:08:07,420 --> 00:08:11,460 Renee: So everyone is gonna want to know I'm sure what their names are gonna be 108 00:08:11,469 --> 00:08:13,649 because right now they have no names. 109 00:08:13,649 --> 00:08:18,549 And we have decided to give them names of the two folks behind the camera right now. 110 00:08:18,700 --> 00:08:21,560 We have Alana with Black Ant Films. 111 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:27,600 So we are going to call one of them Alana So.. that’s one name. And then the other one, 112 00:08:27,780 --> 00:08:33,160 we were going to call her Chee Wei— he’s the producer of De Claffer Music. 113 00:08:33,169 --> 00:08:38,209 But we decided that instead of calling him Chee Wei, since that’s a masculine term, 114 00:08:38,209 --> 00:08:38,909 we are going to call her Chi Chi. 115 00:08:39,420 --> 00:08:41,080 So we got Chi Chi and Alana. 116 00:08:41,380 --> 00:08:43,520 We want to welcome them to Rowdy Girl Sanctuary. 117 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:54,160 Please share this video this holiday season to show what true compassion looks like 118 00:08:54,190 --> 00:08:56,850 and the truth about Thanksgiving. 119 00:08:56,850 --> 00:09:00,990 See these videos here, which are also linked in the description, for more about Thanksgiving’s 120 00:09:00,990 --> 00:09:05,839 dark history, what turkeys really experience, and to get involved with and support the work 121 00:09:05,839 --> 00:09:07,399 of Rowdy Girl Sanctuary. 122 00:09:07,399 --> 00:09:11,889 Subscribe and enable notifications for more vegan truth every week. 123 00:09:11,889 --> 00:09:16,829 Now go live vegan, spare a turkey or two, and I’ll see you soon. 124 00:09:16,829 --> 00:09:18,420 Please think about them. 125 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:21,560 Please think about them this... 126 00:09:21,560 --> 00:09:23,260 "Thanksgiving," y'know? 127 00:09:24,300 --> 00:09:25,580 Don't forget them. 128 00:09:27,940 --> 00:09:31,380 Cause it might just seem like... 129 00:09:31,380 --> 00:09:35,000 trucks full of identical birds, you know? 130 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:36,480 One's the same as the other? 131 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:39,880 But those are individuals. 132 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:43,500 For each one of them,... 133 00:09:43,700 --> 00:09:46,060 this is their life— this is their only life. 134 00:09:47,140 --> 00:09:48,760 This is their last day. 135 00:09:48,770 --> 00:09:57,150 They're about to go inside and experience something that none of us can even fathom. 136 00:09:57,560 --> 00:09:58,800 It's their life.