If they’re actually doing this, it’s just wrong. Really wrong. WTF wrong.
I cannot conceive of a justification of this inane, juvenile, inhumane, and overall STOOPID behavior.
Take the guy who thought this up, and drop HIM from a plane at 500 feet, with the same kind of parachute the turkeys have: NONE.
This is one of the greatest threads ever.
I prefer my turkey with cornbread stuffing and plenty of gravy. But I don’t see the fun or sport in refusing to give food animals a quick clean, death and tormenting them needlessly - people who do so are just a hop, skip and a jump away from wondering how much fun it would be to do it to people. The guy doing this thing and the people cheering him on need to take a good long look at themselves.
Dang. Not even turkeys can escape ARKANCIDE.
What a horribly cruel thing to do. I hope this ____ gets locked up for animal cruelty. Domestic turkeys are breast heavy and have quite insufficient development of their wing muscles to suddenly fly when dumped from a plane. Likely they will hit the ground in wet splotches, the poor things. I hope this ___ gets locked up and that his event is a total failure.
My all time favorite!
However I don't get the point of this "Turkey Drop". If it is to see them fly then stop by any farm that raises heritage breed turkeys.
You will find they do indeed fly.
If it is to see something fall, may I suggest sky divers dressed like turkeys?
Or possibly have someone throw potatoes out of the plane.
Undoubtedly I am weird but I don't see the fun in this.
Now turkey races are another thing. Nearly as much fun as cat racing.
I hunt them.
Of course, wild turkeys can fly.
They sleep way up in big pine and oak trees on my property.
They are big dang birds and make a hell of a racket getting into / out of the trees sometimes.
They also have a quite fast take-off time for a big bird.
That is funcked up if true cruel and wasting food.
If the turks are hitting the ground like wet sacks of cement, I guess they can neither fly nor glide.
Does anyone remember that “Married With Children” episode where Kelly frees the Thanksgiving (or maybe it was Christmas) turkey, with the words, “Fly, Hank, Fly!” Thrown off the upstairs balcony, Hank dive bombs, and Al has something for dinner.
Since people on here seem to be *aghast* about this ... and are only getting the *hype* about this event ... maybe there are some details missing in the general consensus that this cruel and wasteful. Maybe someone who actually lives in the Yellville area should give some perspective.
First of all, “terrified turkeys” is a hilarious personification of turkeys, ascribed by someone who probably has never raised turkeys. The level of anxiety between peaceful and stressed out for a turkey, is about 1 degree of separation. There is very little difference to the mental state of a turkey between riding in a “noisy airplane” or poking around for food in a lovely meadow. Seriously. But people who don’t actually raise turkeys wouldn’t know that. They would only have emotional reactions that demonstrate how little they actually know about turkeys.
Secondly, the turkeys can and do fly. If you really want to personify the turkey, then you should celebrate the exhilarating experience they get to have as they soar for long distances before lighting on the ground. Do some turkeys fail to fly, and hit the ground? Yes, but the percentage of those who do so are about the same as the number of turkeys that normally die in transit or die for other reasons in captivity. It happens occasionally. The death rate for Turkey Trot turkeys is still much lower than the death rate for those turkeys that end up in your turkey sandwich. (ahem)
Third, to say this is wasteful is missing the point entirely. The people who wait below and catch the turkeys as they come down, are getting a free turkey they can continue to raise for their family to eat ... like Thanksgiving dinner. In fact that was the original purpose. The Phantom Pilot is giving out *free turkeys.* Did someone miss this rather obvious detail? This event provides free Thanksgiving turkeys for the families who catch them. There are many other rural events in which chasing and catching (and keeping) animals is part of a community fun event, and it benefits the individual/family that catches it. This is not a wealthy area. A gift of a free turkey is (especially for some folks) a very big deal.
So, I think that what’s really going on here is this ... people who have no idea what the agrarian life is like, are judging people who actually live it out every day. Even more so, I believe it stems from an unfounded disrespect for those who probably understand (and respect!) the value of animal life much more than a city-dweller realizes. Some people only seem to understand cartoon caricatures of happy animals, and cellophane-wrapped animals conveniently processed for the kitchen. Which means that some people are out of touch with ... reality.
Yep, reality check people.