Tornado Alley (PROG)

[Maria56]

Fun Thanksgiving Fact

I was wondering where the "pardoned" turkeys go and whether anybody checks up on their Golden Years. Or, whether, cynic that I am, they go to a "farm" and oops, get eaten after all. Turns out that they are sent to various farms or, this year, to "Gobbler's Rest" at Virginia Tech's Animal and Poultry Sciences Department in Blacksburg, Virginia.

The average lifespan of a turkey in the wild is only three to four years, but these birds, because they are bred to be eaten, have lived on average far less than that.

Many industrially grown turkeys are fattened up with a protein-rich diet of corn and soybeans. They can't fly, because they are too big; their bone structures can't hold up all that weight for very long; and their organs fail if they're kept alive too long.

Every pardoned turkey is dead except three, who are only at this point presumed alive... 2014's "Cheese" and 2015's "Honest" and "Abe."

The outlier in all this was "Courage," the first bird pardoned by Obama in 2009. In 2015, Courage had been reported dead by other outlets, but Disneyland, where the bird was sent, contacted NPR to let us know the fowl was still kicking.

We reached out this year about "Courage's" status. And, sadly, Disneyland confirmed that "Courage" has died.

"Courage passed earlier this year," Suzi Brown, a Disneyland spokeswoman told NPR.

Living six-plus years might be some kind of record set by Courage. Disneyland has a theory.

"Because he was under our care and fed a balanced diet," Brown told NPR, "he slimmed down quite a bit and lived quite a healthy life here at the resort."

Which just goes to show that if you live in fantasy land (and eat a healthy diet) you, too, might just outlive your fellow turkeys!

http://www.npr.org/2015/11/25/457253194/the-strange-truth-behind-presidential-turkey-pardons