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 Jokingly dubbed "Delicious" by a farmer traveling with the
20-pound gobbler, the unfortunate turkey enjoyed only a brief stay
of execution — not a reprieve — during a ceremony laced with gallows
humor at Gov. Mark Dayton's Capitol office.
The next stop for the pink and white bird: a trip to the St. Paul
Salvation Army and, eventually, dinner for the less-fortunate.
Conversely, his two brothers are headed to the White House Wednesday
where they'll be officially spared.
"I don't know how long you'd last in my backyard with two German
shepherds," Dayton whispered as he stroked the bird's feathered
back.
Because the turkey was part of the flock considered candidates for a
White House pardon, he got far more TLC than the average dining
room-bound bird. Along with his more fortunate siblings, he lived in
a separate barn and relaxed to an eclectic music mix including
Vivaldi and John Mayer.
The bird and his two White House-bound kin were all raised by turkey
farmer John Burkel in Badger, Minn., near the Canadian border. As
current chairman of the National Turkey Federation, Burkel was
tapped to provide a bird for President Barack Obama's pardon — a
yearly custom that dates to President Harry S. Truman in 1947. The
second bird is sent along in case the first comes down with
performance anxiety.
Besides music and privacy, Burkel conditioned the naturally nervous
birds to behave in front cameras and crowds. "You need to cultivate the ability to not get too distracted," said
Steve Olson, executive director of the Minnesota Turkey Growers
Association. After Obama's pardon, the star turkeys will head to
Walt Disney World for a Thanksgiving Day parade.
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Minnesota has about 250 independent turkey farmers, more than any
other state, who combined operate 600 turkey farms. The Turkey
Growers group said that in 2011, they raised nearly 50 million birds
and generated $600 million for farmers, processors and related
industries. Among other large processors, Minnesota is home to
Willmar-based Jennie-O Turkey Store, which is owned by Hormel Foods
and is the second-largest turkey producer in the world.
John Zimmerman, the farmer who dubbed the doomed bird Delicious, is
president of the Minnesota Turkey Growers and a second-generation
turkey man. His farm produces about 4 million pounds of turkey meat
a year. He said his father started raising birds in the early 1950s,
at a time when turkey farms were popping up around Minnesota. It
largely had to do with easy access to the corn and soybeans that are
staples of turkeys' diets.
"He grew up milking cows, and he didn't want to milk cows anymore,"
Zimmerman said of his father. "He got out of the Navy and said, 'I'm
going to do something different.'"
[Associated
Press; PATRICK CONDON]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
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