Ann Marie was presented to a vegetarian employee who requested her holiday turkey “bonus” alive.
Alice was found abandoned alongside a highway in a farming community around Thanksgiving time and picked up by animal control officers.
 Olivia was picked up by a flood rescue team, as more than 800,000 other turkeys died in the aftermath of Hurricane Floyd. Many farmers had locked the doors of their sheds, each crammed with more than 10,000 birds, trapping the helpless animals inside. Somehow, Olivia had escaped.
Ann Marie and Olivia must have come from turkey factories, because their beaks had been cut back severely, and the last joint of every one of their toes had been hacked off, leaving their feet little more than stumps on which they could barely hobble. Such
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Ann Marie was presented to a vegetarian employee who requested her turkey bonus alive.
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mutilations, done without benefit of painkillers, are standard procedure in the factory sheds in order to keep the crowded birds from pecking and clawing at each other in frustration. Each shed holds more than 10,000 birds, so no bird can find her niche in the “pecking order,” because no social order is possible. Ann Marie and Olivia also were very young—turkeys in flesh factories are killed at just 16 weeks of age.
Eventually, all three birds were brought to Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary. Not knowing that they were safe, all were very frightened. Olivia was especially pitiful. Her legs were trembling, and as Poplar Springs director Terry Cummings examined her for injuries, she began to shake violently. It took months of tender loving care by Terry and the others at the sanctuary to turn her and the other two turkeys’ terror into trust and friendship.
 Today, Ann Marie, Alice and Olivia all love people. But Alice is the only one who can follow folks around, because she’s the only one who can walk without great difficulty. When she first arrived, she was put in the barn with the sheep and goats. She promptly decided that she was the boss and spent her days “herding” the sheep, who seemed unsure about what she was. She would herd them to the top of the hill, fluff up her black feathers with her head high, and then, her job completed, strut proudly down the hill.
Alice follows tour groups around the entire sanctuary like a dog. She especially loves children, and sometimes when they are leaving, she climbs on the bus with them! She has turned many people into vegetarians because of her wonderful personality. She even got up and started “dancing” in front of the band at the sanctuary’s fundraiser.
Today, Olivia somehow often manages to sit in someone’s lap and be petted—even though she weighs an uncomfortable 25 pounds! She can hardly walk because of her size and mutilated feet, and she has trouble eating with her severely severed beak. She still shakes when she is stressed. But every day, this sweet bird’s incredible spirit triumphs over her damaged body, and on wobbly legs, she eagerly greets each visitor.
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Sometimes when tour groups are leaving, Alice climbs on the bus with them.
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Ann Marie, named after her vegetarian rescuer, now loves being with people and being petted. At Terry’s family reunion at the sanctuary, Ann Marie managed, for the first time, to hobble all the way up to the house. She then positioned herself right in front of all the people in every photo. Terry’s family and the photographer thought this was hilarious.Terry thought it was great that every one of the family photos, with more than 30 people, had this beautiful turkey in it.
Alice, Ann Marie and Olivia will spend the rest of their days at Poplar Spring with the other rescued turkeys and chickens. They will dust-bathe in the soft dirt near the barn and bask in the sun on warm days. They will eat the seed heads when the grass gets tall in the summer and enjoy their favorite treats, grapes, watermelon and vegan blueberry muffins.
They will welcome people to the sanctuary and show them just how wonderful turkeys are.
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 Please try to relate to who’s on your plate!
Go vegan! Contact PETA for a free vegetarian starter kit.
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 Purrs & Grrrs
Grrrs to Sting for telling The Miami Herald: “About five years ago, we built an organic farm. Part of animal husbandry is that they breed. And you can’t keep them all. So I started eating meat again. But I only eat the animals I raise....I won’t eat an animal that comes from a slaughterhouse. That’s just disgusting.” Yeah, unlike killing animals who trust you. Write: Sting c/o Kathy Schenker, KSA, 1776 Broadway, Ste. 1200, New York, NY 10019.
Purrs to Rhea Perlman (Carla from TV’s Cheers) During an appearance on PETA pal Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect, when one guest said that humans “will always crave and desire meat,” Rhea countered: “I don’t. I haven’t eaten meat in 30 years.” (Purrs, too, to Bill for plugging the Great American Meat-Out and reminding viewers that meat production is “an environmental disaster.") Send thank-yous to Rhea c/o Jonathan Ruiz, CAA 9830 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212.
Grrrs to Mastercard International for offering its cardholders discount tickets to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Ringling has a shocking record of animal “care”: In less than two years, two of Ringling’s baby elephants died horrifying deaths on the road, a caged tiger was shot to death, a horse with a chronic medical condition collapsed and died and a wild-caught sea lion was found dead in her transport container. Please ask Mastercard to end its Ringling promotion. Write: Robert W. Selander, President, Mastercard International, 2000 Purchase St., Purchase, NY 10577; mastercard.com.
 Grrrs to rapper Sean Combs for lying to PETA to avoid a posse of protesters at his “Sean John” fashion show in New York. A Sean John spokesperson told us that “Puffy has evolved....That’s why he’s no longer featuring fur on himself or in his clothing line.” But apparently “Bluff Daddy” still wants to look like a caveman: His show featured 28 fur coats, wraps and even shorts made from foxes, lynxes and minks. Write to Combs c/o Peter Safran, 9150 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 350, Beverly Hills, CA 90212.
Purrs to the Right Reverend Dominic Walker, bishop of Reading, England, for condemning hunting. The bishop, who chairs the Anglican Society for the Welfare of Animals, said that hunting “cannot be pleasing to God” and that the Church of England should do more to oppose the blood sport. The bishop reminded readers that humans have been given dominion—not domination—over animals. Send thank-yous to Right Reverend Dominic Walker, Bishop of Reading, Bishop’s House, Tidmarsh Lane, Tidmarsh, Nr Reading, Berkshire, RG8 8HA, U.K.
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Olivia was picked up by a flood rescue team, as more than 800,000 other turkeys died in the aftermath of Hurricane Floyd. Many farmers had locked the doors of their sheds, each crammed with more than 10,000 birds, trapping the helpless animals inside. Somehow, Olivia had escaped.
Today, Ann Marie, Alice and Olivia all love people. But Alice is the only one who can follow folks around, because she’s the only one who can walk without great difficulty. When she first arrived, she was put in the barn with the sheep and goats. She promptly decided that she was the boss and spent her days “herding” the sheep, who seemed unsure about what she was. She would herd them to the top of the hill, fluff up her black feathers with her head high, and then, her job completed, strut proudly down the hill.
