Biden set to pardon turkeys, but PETA says it's a 'wretched' tradition

WASHINGTON – It’s a pre-Thanksgiving tradition at the White House, but an animal rights group says it’s a fowl festivity that is, well, foul.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is urging President Joe Biden to end the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon, citing what it calls “the dirty business” of turkey factory farming.

“As a ‘lame duck,’ you no longer need to heed the interests of factory farmers and, instead, have a joyous opportunity to spare Americans and turkeys this humiliating meat-industry stunt that uses the White House as its public relations backdrop,” Ingrid Newkirk, the group’s president, wrote in a letter to Biden last week.

The White House turkey pardon is a decades-old ritual that is scheduled to continue Monday, when Biden will use his pardon power to grant a presidential reprieve to two lucky birds that will keep them off the Thanksgiving dinner table.

The gobblers chosen to receive this year’s pardons are two Minnesota-born turkeys weighing 40 and 41 pounds. They were hatched on July 18 in Northfield, Minnesota, and raised on a farm by John Zimmerman, chairman of the National Turkey Federation, and his 9-year-old son, Grant.

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In addition to giving them a lease on life, the White House also will bestow names on the two pardoned poultry. The turkey federation provides a list of colorful monikers suggested by attendees at the Minnesota State Fair, but the White House gets the final say. Last year’s lucky birds were named Liberty and Bell. Two years earlier, the feathered friends were Chocolate and Chip.

The names of this year’s protected fowl will be unveiled at a news conference in Washington on Sunday.

Post-pardon, the birds will go back to Minnesota, where they will live at Farmamerica, an agricultural interpretive center. There, they’ll serve as ambassadors for the ag industry, and admirers will be able to visit them.

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Some credit Abraham Lincoln for the first turkey pardon, who, at the urging of his son Tad, spared the life of a turkey that had been delivered to the White House for Christmas dinner, according to the White House Historical Association, though it added the story is "likely apocryphal."

John F. Kennedy pardoned a turkey meant for his table in 1963, the historical association said, and some of his successors occasionally followed suit. When he was president, Ronald Reagan made the turkey pardon part of the Thanksgiving turkey presentation ceremony in the Rose Garden. George H.W. Bush turned it into an annual event by pardoning every turkey during his administration. Every president since has continued the tradition.

For Biden, who is leaving office in January, this year’s turkey pardon will be his last. PETA wants it to be the last, period.

Accusing the turkey industry of “astounding cruelty,” Newkirk urged Biden in her letter to “please end this wretched ritual that doesn’t befit public office.”

Not looking to ruffle any feathers, Alex Davidson, a spokesman for the turkey federation, declined to comment.

Michael Collins covers the White House. Follow him on X @mcollinsNEWS.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Turkey pardon 2024 planned for Monday, but PETA wants Biden to cancel