{"id":874,"date":"2024-12-26T18:01:19","date_gmt":"2024-12-26T19:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/?p=874"},"modified":"2025-03-11T23:10:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T23:10:59","slug":"pet-turkey-accompanies-owner-to-5km-parkrun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/26\/pet-turkey-accompanies-owner-to-5km-parkrun\/","title":{"rendered":"Pet turkey accompanies owner to 5km Parkrun"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"Dave\t<\/div>
T2 the turkey goes everywhere with her owner \u2013 even to Parkrun(Picture: Tony Kershaw)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Britain\u2019s luckiest turkey survived the Christmas<\/a> Day chop by going on a 5k Parkrun with her owner. <\/p>\n

Dave Brooker, 58, takes his beloved pet turkey Trouble Version Two, or T2 for short, everywhere with him \u2013 including to the pub and dentist.<\/p>\n

The Maidstone-based pet owner feeds T2 meat from a scotch egg and even cheese and onion crisps in the pub. <\/p>\n

T2 has had such an effect on her owner over their three years together that David has now turned fully vegetarian.<\/p>\n

This year, he took T2 on a Christmas Parkrun, saying: \u2018It might also make people think twice about eating turkey. I think they\u2019re lovely animals. They\u2019re very intelligent and sentient. It\u2019s also a nice way to show her off.\u2019<\/p>\n

The unlikely duo\u2019s story began when David, who keeps turkeys for their eggs, was forced to care for newborn T2 before she could return to her mother, Trouble.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Dave\t<\/div>
The small turkey loves going on adventures with her owner (Picture: Tony Kershaw)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He explained: \u2018Her mum was sitting on a dozen eggs and the weather turned awful. The first two that hatched died, so I set up a brooder to get the turkeys strong enough to go back under their mum.<\/p>\n

\u2018T2 was the first one out and I fed her for 10 or 11 hours. She was on her own with me checking on her and must have thought I was her parent. The others all went back underneath the mother quite easily, but not T2.\u2019<\/p>\n

Since then, T2 has gone everywhere with owner David and even provides him with entertainment. <\/p>\n

The bond between the two is so strong that David stopped eating turkey on Christmas dinner \u2013 likening it to eating a dog. <\/p>\n

\u2018When you keep an animal it\u2019s quite hard\u2026 Maybe if you\u2019re a farmer you can switch off to it, but I\u2019m a bit of a softy,\u2019 he said. \u2018Last year made me think about not eating meat at all. My relationship with T2 has definitely had a part to play in that. <\/p>\n

\u2018If it wasn\u2019t for her, I wouldn\u2019t have gone vegetarian. You start realising just how intelligent these animals are. But people have to make their own choice about eating them.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Dave\t<\/div>
David said T2\u2019s first Parkrun went well (Picture: Tony Kershaw)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018This will be the first time she\u2019s done a Parkrun, and I\u2019m sure there\u2019s no turkey in the world who has been pushed 5km in a pram on Christmas Day before,\u2019 he said. <\/p>\n

\u2018I know a lot of people do Parkrun with their dogs, so why not with a turkey? My family will be having turkey. T2 will have cheese and biscuits because that\u2019s one of her favourites these days.\u2019<\/p>\n

Though some people find the pair\u2019s undeniably strong bond a little unorthodox, the pair are inseparable and even sleep in the same room together at their home in the village of Wouldham, Kent.<\/p>\n

T2 is fast becoming a normal sight amongst locals, who frequently spot her sitting alongside her owner in his car at traffic lights or at the pub for a pint.<\/p>\n

\u2018But she\u2019s very well-behaved. At the pub, she sits on her blanket and stays there,\u2019 he said. \u2018Unlike most dogs who would run around, you sit her down with a pack of cheese & onion crisps and she\u2019s happy. She\u2019s very tame, very sociable and well-behaved. She doesn\u2019t wander off and she lets people pet her.\u2019<\/p>\n

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

T2 the turkey goes everywhere with her owner \u2013 even to Parkrun(Picture: Tony Kershaw) Britain\u2019s luckiest turkey survived the Christmas Day chop by going on a 5k Parkrun with her owner. Dave Brooker, 58, takes his beloved pet turkey Trouble Version Two, or T2 for short, everywhere with him \u2013 including to the pub and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-weird"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":879,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874\/revisions\/879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}