Two Turkeys Thankful for Obama

WASHINGTON, DC, (KLIX) – Two lucky turkeys were thankful they didn’t wind up on the dinner table this Thanksgiving.

As part of our country’s annual traditional, President Barrack Obama pardoned the National Thanksgiving Turkey in a ceremony on Thursday in the Rose Garden. In fact, he pardoned two, named Tater and Tot.

The turkeys received their names from Iowa school children, who submitted pairs of names for this year’s birds.

Instead of going into the oven, onto the table, and into bellies, the turkeys “will be on display for visitors at their permanent home at Virginia Tech’s newly built ‘Gobblers Rest’ exhibit where they will be cared for by students and veterinarians in the university’s Animal and Poultry Sciences Department,” according to information from the White House.

“Both birds were raised in northwest Iowa under the supervision of National Turkey Federation Chairman John Reicks.”

The NTF did give two dressed turkeys to the First Family, but the Obamas donated them to the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, DC.

More than 46 million turkeys are consumed on Thanksgiving, according to estimates by the NTF. With the presidential pardon this year, that’s 46 million, minus two very thankful birds.