PETA Asks Obama to End White House ‘Turkey Pardon’

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has demanded that President Barack Obama pass up the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon.

In a letter on Tuesday, PETA called the ceremony outdated – accusing Obama of supporting the "turkey-killing industry," The Hill reports.

Earlier Tuesday, Obama pardoned a 19-week old, 40-pound male turkey raised in Virginia at the White House.

The event "makes light of the mass slaughter of some 46 million gentle, intelligent birds," PETA said in its letter. The ceremony also "portrays the United States president as being in some sort of business partnership with the turkey-killing industry."

"You understand so well that African-Americans, women, and members of the LGBT community have been poorly served throughout history, and now I am asking you to consider other living beings who are ridiculed, belittled, and treated as if their sentience, feelings, and very natures count for nothing," PETA President Ingrid Newkirk wrote, The Hill reports.

The ritual harkens back to Abraham Lincoln, who, according to legend, wrote out a presidential pardon for a turkey to appease his son, Tad Lincoln, The Hill reports.