Britain’s luckiest turkey survived the Christmas Day chop by going on a 5k Parkrun with her owner.
Dave Brooker, 58, takes his beloved pet turkey Trouble Version Two, or T2 for short, everywhere with him – including to the pub and dentist.
The Maidstone-based pet owner feeds T2 meat from a scotch egg and even cheese and onion crisps in the pub.
T2 has had such an effect on her owner over their three years together that David has now turned fully vegetarian.
This year, he took T2 on a Christmas Parkrun, saying: ‘It might also make people think twice about eating turkey. I think they’re lovely animals. They’re very intelligent and sentient. It’s also a nice way to show her off.’
The unlikely duo’s story began when David, who keeps turkeys for their eggs, was forced to care for newborn T2 before she could return to her mother, Trouble.
He explained: ‘Her mum was sitting on a dozen eggs and the weather turned awful. The first two that hatched died, so I set up a brooder to get the turkeys strong enough to go back under their mum.
‘T2 was the first one out and I fed her for 10 or 11 hours. She was on her own with me checking on her and must have thought I was her parent. The others all went back underneath the mother quite easily, but not T2.’
Since then, T2 has gone everywhere with owner David and even provides him with entertainment.
The bond between the two is so strong that David stopped eating turkey on Christmas dinner – likening it to eating a dog.
‘When you keep an animal it’s quite hard… Maybe if you’re a farmer you can switch off to it, but I’m a bit of a softy,’ he said. ‘Last year made me think about not eating meat at all. My relationship with T2 has definitely had a part to play in that.
‘If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have gone vegetarian. You start realising just how intelligent these animals are. But people have to make their own choice about eating them.’
‘This will be the first time she’s done a Parkrun, and I’m sure there’s no turkey in the world who has been pushed 5km in a pram on Christmas Day before,’ he said.
‘I know a lot of people do Parkrun with their dogs, so why not with a turkey? My family will be having turkey. T2 will have cheese and biscuits because that’s one of her favourites these days.’
Though some people find the pair’s undeniably strong bond a little unorthodox, the pair are inseparable and even sleep in the same room together at their home in the village of Wouldham, Kent.
T2 is fast becoming a normal sight amongst locals, who frequently spot her sitting alongside her owner in his car at traffic lights or at the pub for a pint.
‘But she’s very well-behaved. At the pub, she sits on her blanket and stays there,’ he said. ‘Unlike most dogs who would run around, you sit her down with a pack of cheese & onion crisps and she’s happy. She’s very tame, very sociable and well-behaved. She doesn’t wander off and she lets people pet her.’
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