Clara

Whilst I watched a full grown terrified turkey be lifted up by her feet and auctioned off for almost nothing, this little turkey baby was cowering in her cage behind me. Her and her brother were in that cage waiting for their turn to be auctioned off for meat.

This poor, sweet, sick little girl had no chance. We took her. She was emaciated and dehydrated. Her crop was empty. She was dying. She died only minutes after her rescue on my lap in the car on the way to the vet. She was named, “Clara”. She wasn’t meant to have a name and you were never supposed to even know about her let alone see her.

Poultry auctions and animal auctions in general are disgusting displays of the use and abuse of animals in our society. What would be considered cruelty to dogs and cats is openly carried out on chickens, ducks and turkeys and poultry auctions. People buy these birds for a measly few dollars, tie their legs up with tape, twine, wire or whatever they can find and throw them in their boot to take home and slaughter in their backyards. Clara’s future was to be one of being fattened up and slaughtered for a meal.

What happened to her brother who was in the same cage? Well, he was rescued as well. He stood in the back of the car calling for his friend Clara the whole time her dead little body sat on my lap. I put Clara’s body in with him when we stopped and he sat right next to her, sometimes on her. He was visibly upset.  Animal’s grieve for their loved ones just like we do.

His name is Quinn and he will never be anyone’s meal.

Please don’t use my images without permission. All images are Copyright Tamara Kenneally