NOT SO STUFFED
IT’S not often a plucked turkey is the centre of a happy story, especially at this time of year.
But this is one lucky bird who will have the chance to shake his tail feather at Christmas thanks to a successful rescue mission on the Broadwater.
Vet nurse Lily Papas, 20, was out boating with family from Melbourne when she spotted what she thought was a dead bird floating near Wavebreak Island.
As it approached, Miss Papas realised the bird was barely alive and struggling to swim to safety.
“It turned into quite the rescue mission,” she said.
Miss Papas, of Broadbeach, enlisted her cousins to help scoop the turkey on-board the boat using an empty bin.
The saturated bird spent two hours wrapped in a beach towel, drying off and warming up before it was finally able to stand again.
“Nothing like that’s ever happened to me before,” Miss Papas said.
“In the job I work in there’s a lot of high-stress situations but I’ve never had to jump in on a rescue mission like that.”
A Gold Coast Vet Surgery spokesman said it was believed the bird had fallen from a nearby houseboat that is home to turkeys and other animals.
It has since been returned to his owner.