As a companion bird owner, I often find myself in strange, thought-provoking situations that normal people (and I mean that kindly) would never find themselves in. Like sitting at your desk at work and realizing you have bird poo on your shoulder or coming in to work with a hand and arm covered in bruises or bandages after a rather tension-filled training session and trying to explain to your coworkers that you really weren’t attacked by a rabid dog. And then there are the discussions about food.
There was a time in my life when I didn’t have birds and never gave it a thought to grab a turkey drumstick or order a platter of wings at the pub. But after years of handling many, many birds, the occasion of dining on poultry puts things in a whole new perspective. Like most average people, I’m a carnivore and I like meat. As much as I adore my parrots, I also enjoy poultry but often find myself in a rather discomfited quandary, especially at Thanksgiving. I’ve never gone as far as becoming vegan because I can’t stand the thought of eating a fellow avian creature, but I will say handling and eating poultry has become rather… interesting.
As I stood at the sink with the thawed butterball beneath my hands ready for preparation I realized how very similar in size it was to my macaw. Perhaps it was broader, but the legs and the wings were of a similar scale and opening one of the featherless wings made me cringe for a moment, recalling so many of the plucked birds I handled at the rescue. I suddenly found myself handling the turkey as I would if I was holding one of the macaws and I laughed to myself. I had always been amazed by avian biology, well, here it was in all its glory without the marring beak trying to shred my hands while I poked and prodded. I could manipulate the wings and see how the muscles moved and see where things really were in respect to one that’s covered in feathers and fighting you.
I began to wonder whether maybe I should give up poultry. I mean, I worked at a parrot rescue and hoped to be an advocate for the welfare of these birds. Granted, a chicken or a turkey is hardly a domestic, companion animal, but I’m sure it could be and I’m sure those people continue to eat poultry. The whole thought was beginning to ruin my holiday. I love turkey, count the days til Thanksgiving when I could get my hands on that brown, buttery, crispy skin and succulent dark meat. Now, I sat there staring at the beautiful golden brown offering in the center of the table and couldn’t help seeing my sweet macaw lying there, though I doubt he could feed a family of eight.
And as I sat pondering what to do, my psyche struggling with the probabilities of my soul going straight to hell, I looked over at my macaw, who sat bright-eyed and eager, checking out the table covered in culinary magnificence. I stood and brought my plate to his cage to offer him some green veg and mashed potatoes, so that he may partake in the celebration with the family… and he promptly grabbed the slice of dark turkey meat and devoured it.
I sat and ate my turkey.
Have a happy, healthy and amusing Thanksgiving Day everyone!
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