A group of six animal rights protesters blocked the frozen food aisle at Cambridge Tesco on Saturday (07/12), preventing customers from accessing the freezers where turkeys were for sale.

The group refused to leave when asked to do so by security, but left peacefully and voluntarily after around 1 hour.

Animal Justice Project (AJP) were campaigning against turkeys being killed for Christmas dinners, holding signs that displayed images of turkeys and urging people to “choose vegan” and “be their Christmas miracle”. The group also distributed signs and leaflets to customers.

One protester said that they hoped to show the public that “turkeys are remarkable, intelligent, and gentle creatures who deserve lives of freedom – not lives ended in the name of holiday traditions.”

According to charity Animal Aid, around ten million turkeys are killed in Britain for Christmas dinners every year.

However, studies are showing a change in the festive eating habits of British people. A survey conducted for Tesco’s 2024 annual report found that 27% of respondents are planning or considering serving plant-based options in their Christmas dinner.

Breige Donaghy, Tesco’s Product Development & Innovation Director, said: “We know that a number of customers are choosing plant-based diets and we’re seeing an increase in desire for Christmas centrepieces that are meat-free.”

An investigation conducted by AJP in 2019 into Pastures Poultry, a ‘high welfare’ slaughterhouse in Northamptonshire, showed that turkeys were confined in sheds, and plucked and scalded alive.

Their report of the investigation described the handling of the birds as “violent”, and claimed that workers were caught breaking the rules of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) around animal slaughter.

Pastures Poultry describe themselves as “free range poultry from farmers who care”.

AJP has urged people to “choose kindness this Christmas” by creating Christmas dinners that “leave animals out of them entirely”.

In September, animal rights group Speciesism WTF organised an art installation outside The Guildhall to protest the ‘exploitative’ nature of dairy farming. Female demonstrators stripped down to their underwear and attached milk pumps to their chests, posing as “milked women”.