lijah Decombray-Gold, 4, and his sister Isabella, 2, routinely went
with their preschool class to a local farm to observe 100 peeps turn
into 100 turkeys. A few weeks ago, Elijah came home and announced,
"They're killing the turkeys for Thanksgiving." Elijah asked his
mother if she would help him write a letter, and so she did. The
letter was simple - "Let the turkeys live! - and when the farmer
received it, he decided he could let one turkey go.

That one turkey is headed to Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, a place
where farm animals live out their lives, and a place that has
celebrated Thanksgiving in a unique way since its inception 20 years
ago. Instead of eating turkeys, Farm Sanctuary gives its dozens of
turkeys a Thanksgiving feast.

"Turkeys love cranberries and lettuce and squash - and pumpkin pie,"
laughed Tricia Ritterbusch, communication director of Farm Sanctuary.
She explained that this year's Thanksgiving kicks off with 250 people
sharing a vegan potluck dinner on Nov. 19 from noon to 2:30 p.m. at
the Watkins Glen Community Center. After that, everyone heads to Farm
Sanctuary to feed the turkeys.

Ariel Gold, mother of Elijah and Isabella, is taking her family to the
celebration for the first time this year. The family is vegetarian,
and Elijah is anxious to see his turkey in its new home. Gold was
raised vegetarian, and when she saw her son's anger over the turkey
farm, she was somewhat glad. "I feel like I'm continuing a tradition
of preserving animal life," Gold said.
....
Farm Sanctuary actually has a surplus of turkeys this year, due to a
massive rescue. Live birds can be shipped through the mail under
certain conditions, and a Binghamton package arrived with more than a
100 peeps (baby turkeys). The recipient of the peeps wasn't able to
care for them properly, and many of them died. The Farm Sanctuary
learned of the situation, and negotiated with the man to give up his
88 surviving peeps.

Now, along with its Thanksgiving celebration, the Farm Sanctuary is
also heavily emphasizing its adopt-a-turkey program, hoping to have
dozens of vegetarians adopt turkeys into their homes. Eighteen have
already been adopted, after the adopters passed an interview and an
application.

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full story:
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?n... 546876&rfi=6