With Thanksgiving coming up, The Gabby Dog dialed up her pals at Farm Sanctuary to find a turkey to adopt for the holidays.
If you haven’t heard about the Adopt-a-Turkey Project, it works like this. You go online, read all about the turkeys rescued from factory farms, choose your favorite, and then donate $30 to help all the farm animals.
In return, Farm Sanctuary sends you an adoption certificate with your turkey’s picture.
Of course, the “adopted” turkeys stay at the shelters.
The idea for a more compassionate Thanksgiving Day started in 1986 to raise money for the livestock at Farm Sanctuary’s original refuge in Watkins Glen, N.Y.
As successful as it’s proved financially, the annual event also encourages people to start new family traditions to help animals, instead of devouring them.
This year, in addition to the five turkeys – Robin, Pamela, Jackie, Pepper, and Christina — up for adoption, people can direct a contribution to the new memorial adoption in memory of Turpentine, the turkey.
So Gabby and Asia, the immortal tabby, hacked my computer again checked out the list of turkeys, announced they couldn’t decide between Christina, the turkey rescued from a factory farm and delivered to the sanctuary in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Pepper, who also arrived as a baby turkey but at the Northern California shelter.
But after hearing the story of Turpentine the turkey, Gabby, Asia, the immortal tabby, voted unanimously to direct my donation to the new memorial adoption in Turpentine’s memory.
They also printed out recipes for a new mac and cheese dish along with Asia’s favorite cheddar quiche. To seal the deal, the pets attached another sticky note with the message, “Our brofur Charlie, the black cat, approves.”
On the subject of food choices and animal welfare, Gabby received a troubling message from our old friend Deniz Bolbol at the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign.
She had information about Whole Foods markets and the grocery’s connection with the ranchers behind another wild horse roundup, this time in Oregon. That group of ranchers wants 1,400 mustangs pushed off “the Beatys Butte Herd Management Area, which is federally-designated as wild horse habitat,” Bolbol said. If they succeed, some 2,000 mustangs will disappear from the range this year, just in Oregon, she says.
AWHPC has asked Whole Foods to “adopt a mustang and burro safe policy that prohibits the sale of beef or lamb sourced from animals grazing on public lands in federally designated wild horse and burro habitat areas.”
The Gabby Dog asked the company for comment. Michael Silverman, in Global Corporate Communications, replied:
“This is a complex issue, and we believe that the best way to reach a compromise is for the activists, ranchers and government officials involved on the ground to meet face-to-face to ensure all sides are heard and that all parties can collaborate on a solution. We have repeatedly encouraged these parties to engage in direct dialogue with one another in an effort to reach a compromise. We also encourage people to express their concerns to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which manages livestock grazing on public lands.”
Gabby sent a follow-up message to verify Whole Foods is not taking Country Natural Beef products off its shelves, and when Mr. Silverman replies, she’ll have a follow-up.
Have a tip or story idea? E-mail Margo Ann Sullivan at TheGabbyDog@gmail.com and Follow The_Gabby_Dog on Twitter.
Margo Ann Sullivan is a pet columnist who has written for ZooToo, and numerous publications in New York and in New England. She’s had pets all her life, starting with a rescue collie named Lollypop. The Gabby Dog column chases the news that helps pets and people. It also chronicles the adventures of Gabby, the peke-a-poo, and Asia, the tabby cat, and their many pals, hitting the high spots between Providence, RI, and Manchester, NH.
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