# Turkeys getting a presidential pardon - the truth! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 22, 2012, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turkeys-getting-a-presidential-pardon-the-truth/641787 "2012-11-22T01:06:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turkeys-getting-a-presidential-pardon-the-truth/641787/1 "2012-11-22T01:06:20Z")
So a few years back, our zoo got a call from a turkey farm. No, from Big Turkey - a huge agricultural conglomerate, who happens to be one of the US’s biggest poultry producers. They’d raised a flock of 20 Broad Breasted White turkeys to send to Washington DC for the yearly silliness of the turkey pardoning ceremony. Of the 20, they’d selected 5 to be sent to DC, the other 15 were to be found “forever homes.” We offered to take two. Lewis and Clark arrived as 7 month old birds, almost fully grown and around 30lbs each. They lived in the barn at the zoo, being hand fed timothy pellets by gawking children, cared for by skilled zookeepers and a specialist avian vet. They lived for around another six months, and were eventually both euthanized, as their quality of life had deteriorated markedly. Their health problems all stemmed from their breed. The Broad Breasted White is the most commonly bred commercial turkey. It’ll probably be on your table tomorrow. They have been selectively bred for generations to mature quickly and HEAVILY. In fact, Lewis and Clark really just got too heavy, even on strictly controlled diets, and their joints and organs just gave out. So much for a pardon! I hope the White House realizes that the negative PR from this story (it’s by no means a secret, several articles have been published on the pardoned turkeys’ fate) and decides to source their turkeys elsewhere, perhaps from a heritage breeder, or even a wildlife rehabilitation centre. Poor turkeys. Better to be eaten. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turkeys-getting-a-presidential-pardon-the-truth/641787/2 "2012-11-22T01:18:15Z")
Wait. I’m supposed to be upset that food makes good food, and not good pets? Why, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turkeys-getting-a-presidential-pardon-the-truth/641787/3 "2012-11-22T22:01:22Z")
I agree with you that it’s pretty disturbing how Big Agriculture has turned turkeys and chickens into FrankenBirds that aren’t really capable of living a normal life or even reproducing without human intervention. After we watched “Food Inc”, my fiance no longer eats mass-produced meat. I am okay with him eating turkeys and chicken who were raised ethically by a local farmer, but I won’t let meat from the poor tortured, deformed freak-birds from Tyson or Butterball into my home. However, both political parties are very beholden to Big Agriculture, so it’s not at all surprising that the govt won’t take a stand and “pardon” a heritage turkey from a small farmer. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turkeys-getting-a-presidential-pardon-the-truth/641787/4 "2012-11-23T01:18:54Z")
I, for one, have always wondered what crime these turkeys have been tried and found guilty for, that a presidential pardon is essential. ---
**Author:** ![qualityleashdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/9f8e36/32.png) [@qualityleashdog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qualityleashdog)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turkeys-getting-a-presidential-pardon-the-truth/641787/5 "2012-11-23T16:17:14Z")
That always got me too, that they would pardon a bird that is destined for suffering if not butchered. I’ve personally seen three of the birds die, not making it to a full year. They get stiff jointed, too fat to walk, get cold like symptoms, and finally can’t move, and lay down to die. Why wouldn’t a bird like the Narragansett be pardoned? They’re prettier anyhow. I can accept the fact that the white turkeys have turned out like they have, but now that that’s the way it is, every single one of them should be used for the table, and never spared as pets.