About the Project

About the Adopt-A-Turkey Project

In 1986, Farm Sanctuary began its annual Adopt-A-Turkey Project. This unique effort has saved thousands of turkeys from slaughter and encouraged millions of people to make cruelty-free choices. This Thanksgiving, hundreds of families are feeding turkeys, instead of eating them, by adopting feathered friends who live at Farm Sanctuary.

Our traditional Celebration FOR the Turkeys event is held at our shelters in Watkins Glen, New York, and Orland, Calif., where turkeys are the guests of honor, not the main course. Farm Sanctuary staff and volunteers prepare a buffet of squash, cranberries, pumpkin pie, and other vegetarian treats, and the turkeys have the pleasure of stuffing themselves for the holiday.

Through our Turkey Express adoption event, Farm Sanctuary has placed hundreds of turkeys in loving vegetarian homes in over a dozen states from New York to California. People with open hearts and appropriate facilities are eligible to adopt two or more turkeys. (The birds need companionship, so they are not adopted individually.) Turkeys make great companions and can be a wonderful addition to a compassionate family.

Though not everyone has the facilities to welcome a turkey into their home, anyone can give a turkey the good life by sponsoring one of the rescued birds who live at Farm Sanctuary. Here, turkeys are given the space and freedom to engage in natural behaviors and enjoy themselves for the rest of their natural lives. For a one-time donation of $30, Adopt-A-Turkey sponsors receive an adoption certificate with a color photo of their turkey. People can sponsor a turkey online or by calling 1-888-SPONSOR. Some of our famous turkey adopters include Farm Sanctuary celebrity supporters Linda Blair, Alicia Silverstone, James Cromwell, Kevin Nealon, and Rue McClanahan, among others.

The Adopt-A-Turkey Project has attracted media attention, both nationally and locally, helping spread the word about how individuals and their families can have a compassionate Thanksgiving celebration. Farm Sanctuary also offers educational literature about the plight of turkeys raised for food, as well as turkey-free recipes and resources to make your holiday celebration a success. Farm Sanctuary believes that people will choose to have a vegetarian Thanksgiving once they have an opportunity to meet turkeys and see that they are living, feeling animals.

Like all animals, turkeys experience pain and suffering, yet they are specifically excluded from state and federal animal protection laws. As a result, turkeys are subjected to intolerable cruelty at factory farms and slaughterhouses across the United States. But Farm Sanctuary is working to change the tragic status quo, and the Adopt-A-Turkey Project, which encourages people be part of a new holiday tradition, is a critical part of this effort.