DAWNWATCH Turkey Rescue 2016

Please click here to SPONSOR A ThanksGIVING TURKEY AND support FARM SANCTUARY, where TRACEY AND ELLIE WILL LIVE OUT THEIR LIVES AS TURKEY AMBASSADORS.


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Welcome to the annual DawnWatch turkey rescue. On this page you’ll find a youtube video of the 2016 turkey rescue, which includes a little retrospective of previous years. If you need a higher res version, still photos, or would like to get in touch for an interview, please shoot me an email via the “Contact” tab at the top of this page. I will respond quickly.

This year I have the pleasure of introducing you to Tracey and Ellie Turkey, named for animal advocate Tracey Stewart, who with her husband Jon Stewart is in the process of founding a farm sanctuary, and for superstar singer Ellie Goulding, who has given vegan living such a beautiful voice.

Tracey and Ellie Turkey came from the local slaughter industry, destined for Thanksgiving dinner, and will be at ours, as guests of honor - at the table rather than on it. The only turkey on our Thanksgiving table is a bottle of Wild Turkey bourbon!

After the holidays Tracey and Ellie will retire to Farm Sanctuary in Acton. They’ll live out their lives as turkey ambassadors, greeting guests and teaching them that turkeys are interesting and affectionate individuals, who, like all beings, are just looking for love.

I do this as a fun way to send out a serious message. Most people would be unaware that most animal cruelty laws exempt farm animals and allow for anything considered "standard agricultural practice." For turkeys, that means having their beaks seared off and the ends of their toes cut off so that they don't rip each other apart when they are crammed together on factory farms.  And turkeys, like all poultry, are not even covered under federal humane slaughter laws – it's as if they aren't even animals. But my rescue videos make it clear that they are indeed animals, who love kindness and affection.
 
I hope you'll enjoy watching them bathed, blow-dried, cuddled and loved, reminding people that

"Turkey day is loads of fun when the turkeys are alive and well.”


Here's our YouTube video. You should be able to watch (or capture) it on YouTube. Please email me, via the contact link at the top of this page, if you need an MP4 or high resolution of some of the bath and blowdry shots for b roll.


Below are low res photos from previous rescue operations. We have some available, in high res, of this year's rescue too. Just shoot me an email via the contact form.


 
Feeding Venus -- by Katja Wargin Turkey Blowdry -- by Hugh Slavitt

 

 
With neighborhood kids- by Katja Wargin Venus on my lap -- by Katja Wargin  
     
 

 

 

     
     


To learn more about my animal advocacy work, read my bio here.

Contact

You can get in touch with Karen Dawn via email at the "contact" link at the top of this page.