sir eddy • april 20, 2008
sir eddy is a baby turkey who got stranded somehow. we think he was probably being raised by a family for food, and escaped! that is one ingenious and brave little turkey! he must have been alone for a couple of weeks, in a barren area with no food or plants, along the human-made l.a. river.
what is this thing i'm in?!!
day one...
he came to us on april 20th. we first saw him at the summit of a steep and rocky incline. that is daunting enough to us, but sir eddy weighs only about 4 lbs and is 8 inches tall, yet he was not daunted by it! we sighted a quasi-white ball of feathers at the top, making its way
down... down... down...
over and around boulders at least three times his size, until he marched right into jim's outstretched hands! what a brave and determined guy! he became instantly known to us as "sir edmund hillary," or "sir eddy" for short. like a character from a dr. seuss book, he hopped right onto jim's lap, and nuzzled under jim's "wing," saying, "are you my mother?"
umm, i like this grub a lot! 
@ animal acres
we called animal acres, and they said YES! they'd love to have sir eddy. april 21st, sir eddy and i headed out to animal acres with our friend barbara. eddy was chirping loudly; i was amazed at how loud he could get. then barbara brought out a key-lime green blanket for him and puffed it out just right. well, guess what, sir eddy quieted down immediately and started making cooing noises. awww!!! thank you, barbara!
THANKS, ANIMAL ACRES!!
a piece of heaven
it was about 9:30 p.m. when we arrived at animal acres. all of the animals had gone to bed, so we thought they'd take sir eddy and wave thanks & goodbye to us. but no, we all went to a room and they set sir eddy up beautifully and we stayed for a good hour, chatting and admiring eddy. eddy was so excited over his food, he jumped right in it! sir eddy is much more fortunate than the other turkeys at animal acres, who were debeaked at 2 wks old at factory farms and some even had their toes cut off, so they wouldn't scratch the killer-workers.
another turkey spared the thanksgiving knife!
i'm so thankful
thanksgiving, and what i learned from sir eddy
sir eddy was outgoing with us and all of the people he met, and was obviously grateful for his blanket and food. he loved being petted! we all marveled at his charisma, despite the arduous trek he had just weathered.
although i'd given him a blanket overnight, i did not think to give him one for the trip, and didn't think about petting him, even though i admired him, and knew that he needed to get to animal acres. i thought this over, and i realize why. it's because i've hardly been around farm animals, and i've been conditioned throughout my life that farm animals are lesser than the dogs, cats and bunnies i've known.
sir eddy is to me an ambassador for turkeys everywhere. he taught me that a turkey is a multifaceted creature just like the other animals i've known, with his own personality and ways.
billions of sir eddies in the world have been reduced to mere packages of flesh to eat. when i think of how meeting sir eddy uplifted every human he met, the value of just this brief encounter far exceeds a dinner hastily eaten before a numbing afternoon of television--a dinner for which countless turkeys suffer brutal and leg-breaking lives and ultimately suffer terrifying and merciless deaths.
needless to say, for thanksgiving i'll be going to animal acres' compassionate thanksgiving event for years to come, so i can hang out with sir eddy and his new extended family of animals and people.
(you may also be interested in piñita's story!)
animal acres
- compassionate thanksgiving (& other events)
- 2007 compassionate thanksgiving
- in some families, every day is turkey day
other turkey-compassionate sites