A plucky turkey’s great escape has seen her go from Christmas dinner to Christmas winner.
As hundreds of live turkeys were about to be prepared for a festive feast at Swillington Farm’s slaughterhouse, one brave bird decided to fly the nest. Just seconds before she was due to be killed, Jessica the turkey made a bid for freedom and escaped out of the back door.
The feathered friend, nicknamed Jessica after Yorkshire Olympian Jessica Ennis, then spent more than four hours hiding in a nearby tree.
Ed Cartwright, 24, works at the Leeds farm.
He said: “I think she knew what was going to happen.
“She saw the door and made a run for it.
“We slaughter 100 chickens a week but haven’t seen anything like this before.
“Our turkeys are free range or organic so I think she just wanted to be outside again and was fine in the tree.
“We had to bring out our pet turkeys to coax her down.”
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Ed then started up a Twitter poll, asking people to vote as to whether the Norfolk Black turkey should survive or not.
The majority of people voted to save the fowl and she is now settling down with the farm’s brood of pet turkeys.
Ed added: “A customer started taking photos and we thought Twitter would be a good way of asking people what they think should happen next.
“The votes were 75 per cent in favour of saving the turkey.
“She is hanging around with the other pet turkeys but she is younger and on the small side so we’re worried they might pick on her.
“We’d like to add that we still have turkeys available for Christmas and that they will not be running away.”
Customers can visit Jessica at the farm until Christmas and people are encouraged to vote on Twitter as to what should happen to her afterwards.
The farm is also keen to hear more name suggestions.
To contact them, tweet them @swillingtonfarm or visit: www.swillingtonorganicfarm.co.uk
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