Life after pardon
They’ve been pardoned — and now they’re headed to college.
Bread and Butter, who were both spared by President Trump in the annual White House turkey pardoning Tuesday, will live out the rest of their days at the Gobbler’s Rest sanctuary on the campus of Virginia Tech.
Like their recent predecessors, the turkeys can look forward to an otherwise comfortable life at the sanctuary, where they will be doted on by faculty and students and met with a regular stream of curious visitors.
“It’s a really plush life, so to speak,” said Rami
Dalloul, a professor who oversees the spared birds.
“They get a nice enclosure. People serve them food and water. They come out. People come and visit them. They are officially retired and they don’t have to worry about room and board or tuition.”
Bread and Butter joined 2018’s pardoned pair, Peas and Carrots — although Drumstick and Wishbone, pardoned in 2017, and Tater and Tot, given a merciful out in 2016, have since died.
Comparatively short lives is common in turkeys raised for consumption, said the animalrights group People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals. “Turkeys which are bred and raised for the meat industry are genetically manipulated through specific breeding to grow so rapidly that they suffer from terrible health complications,” Ashley Byrne, of PETA, told The Post.
Dalloul disputed PETA’s contention that the fowl live foul lives, while acknowledging their life expectancy is shorter than their wild counterparts. “They’re not obese. These are mid-40s to 45 pounds. They’re just big birds,” Dalloul said.
Farmed turkeys are lucky to live past two years, while those in the wild last anywhere from three to five years, he said.