As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Thursday, 22 November 2012

A lucky break for one turkey – a 21st Century escape from ritual slaughter



A few days ago, in a nice bit of holiday timing, a young male wild turkey was brought in from Staten Island. One leg was fractured, and bone splinters had pierced his skin. “It’s very possible he was a casualty of Sandy,” Ms.  McMahon said in an e-mail.

The turkey, who weighs more than eight pounds and has a five-foot wingspan, “makes quite a fuss when you do anything to him,” Ms. McMahon wrote. He is scarfing down seeds and mealworms, and starting to stand on the bad leg.

The wound has to be redressed daily. But the turkey patient is, apparently, no fool. “The strange and wonderful thing,” Ms. McMahon wrote, “is that the bird lays quietly for his splint change.”

No comments:

Post a Comment