For All of Us: Stuff a Pumpkin, Please

The day before Thanksgiving, 2010. A woman named Anna pulls down the CAS driveway and up to the main barn. Animal Care Director Abbie Rogers and I go out to meet her; we’ve been expecting her and her passenger.

In a crate in the back of her hatchback, a large white turkey is close to hyperventilating; her legs are splayed out — a debilitating condition brought on by an industry that forces animals to grow so quickly that many actually die of violent heart attacks within the first few weeks of life.

As we’re settling the bird we name “Henrietta” into her quarantine area, where she’ll live for a few weeks until we know it’s safe to introduce her to our other turkeys, I ask Anna what compelled her to save this turkey’s life.

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