Alicia Silverstone and Alec Baldwin Among Stars Pledging to Go Turkey-Free This Thanksgiving

For many, the word Thanksgiving conjures up images of slow-roasted turkeys fresh out of the oven, but many holiday tables, including several famous ones, will be going turkey-free this Thanksgiving.

Farm Sanctuary, America’s first farm animal sanctuary and advocacy organization, is working to make Thanksgiving a more humane holiday by encouraging animal lovers to skip serving turkey at their holiday meals. The organization feels this effort is especially important, now that the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic has exposed "the inequities of factory farming," says Farm Sanctuary.

The organization is not alone, numerous celebrities "are among the thousands of Americans joining " Farm Sanctuary's Turkey-Free Pledge for a Compassionate Thanksgiving. So far, Alec Baldwin, Alicia Silverstone, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Edie Falco, Sia, Alan Cumming, Lisa Edelstein, Richard Marx, and Daisy Fuentes have all signed the group's pledge.

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The pledge is available for anyone to sign at Farm Sanctuary's website. The rescue asks that those signing agree to "object to animal cruelty, environmental destruction, the exploitation of slaughterhouse workers, and the deep wounds inflicted upon rural communities by the factory farming industry. As such, I will join Farm Sanctuary in celebrating a compassionate Thanksgiving by leaving turkey off my dinner plate."

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According to Farm Sanctuary, by bypassing the bird on Thanksgiving, animal lovers can save the lives of millions of turkeys, draw attention to agriculture's role in ecosystem destruction and highlight the humans negatively impacted by factory farming.

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For those fearing what to cook without a turkey as the Thanksgiving centerpiece, Alicia Silverstone and her son have some ideas for a cruelty-free Thanksgiving meal in the video above.

Turkey lovers can still make the bird a part of their big day by helping support the care of a rescue turkey through Farm Sanctuary's Adopt a Turkey program. To learn more about the program, the spokesturkeys behind it, and Farm Sanctuary's Turkey-Free Thanksgiving Pledge, visit the organization's website.