My Freedom Friend

Shirley's story

Hey, I’m Shirley.

Although I’ve got a female name, I’m a male turkey. At first, they thought I was a girl because I was so beautiful, but then when I got to be six months old they discovered that I was a boy. Anyway, that name suits me. I’m a pluralist and you can understand it not only by my name but also by where I live.

You see, I live with the laying chickens and not with all the other turkeys at the farm. And you will be surprised to hear, I have a common language with them and they even think that I am unique and very beautiful.

The reason I live with them and not with the rest of the turkeys is because I am blind and in the freedom farm they want me to be healthy, eat and grow, and here the layers have luxurious conditions that not every turkey gets: a free buffet all day (We, the turkeys, have a great appetite, but it’s our fault, it’s genetic, human intervention, so we’ll eat all day long and so we’ll grow faster and then sent to slaughter). Why, you ask, do I get this special treatment? Because I’m blind and it’s easier for me to find the food this way.

I don’t remember exactly how I got blind. I was small when I grew up in the terrible conditions of the industrial meat coop, but I do remember people being cruel to us. We were loaded violently into trucks and people kicked us.I got a concussion from one of the kicks and it has blinded me. I don’t like to remember these days and I’m also a turkey who likes to look at the glass half full (even though I’m blind).

Thanks to my blindness, I have gained my freedom!