Amazing Turkeys!

Once destined to be raised for slaughter (yes, there is an irony there) were these plucky poults. However, amazingly, by the hand of serendipity and the good hands of kindness, they found their way to sanctuary. And for this we shall be forever grateful they did, for life with turkeys is nothing short of amazing! And at around ten days old, as we estimated our downy covered friends were on arrival, they quickly began reminding us of this.

Their cheery chirps can be heard many paces away, as their inquisitive little faces have eyes that probe every inch of our own.

That it was only their beaks that became a casualty of the cruel industry they escaped, and not their toes or their lives, is the smallest of mercies that was ever afforded them.

Never to feel the loving caress of their doting mother turkey, with whom they would have stayed for the first year of their lives and learned important life lessons, these hapless babes were hatched from a barren and loveless incubator.

Yet, despite their lives already being so short-changed, they are as friendly and cheery as can be. And so, as recompense for what they have already endured, our pledge is to make their lives as amazing and magical as possible.

That seems only fitting as that is what their contribution to our lives shall be.

We’ll share in the joy of their over-20 distinctive chirps, clucks, purrs, gobbles and kee-kees as they communicate who they are to the world. They will get to play chase, as we have seen their kind do. Such an amazing joy as their little legs do cartwheels in pursuit of their quarry: an apple, a feather or some kind of shining thing.

We’ll stroke them if they want, and cuddle them if they so wish, for turkeys’ capacity for forgiveness is as broad as those chests that, despite our careful feeding regime, will one day become them. Those big broad chests are an inescapable fate that befalls those left behind on factory farms, breasts so heavy and large the hapless animals cannot even mate naturally. We’ll watch their snoods, wattles and caruncles reflectively change colour with their many moods that rival our own. Oh, what an amazing joy that will be.

We’ll watch them learn to map out the sanctuary, navigate every inch and commit it to their memories with London taxicab driver precision. And we’ll commit to providing them with a symphony of kindness and music to delight their ears and their hearts, as they have already delighted ours.

But let’s stop talking about how amazing turkeys are and how awesome life with them is, and remind their kind of how amazing humans can be – by simply keeping them off our plates.