Easter Flies Home for Christmas

This is going to take some explaining.

First, Easter is not a holiday.  Well, yes, Easter is a holiday, but this particular Easter is not a holiday.  Easter is a pet turkey.  More than a pet turkey.  Easter is a “therapy” turkey.

I don’t know much about turkeys.  I know about the kind that are flat and fit between slices of bread.  I once installed an electrical service at a half-assed farm where several domestic turkeys kept sneaking up and attempting to eat the tools in my belt.  They did not comprehend “Get away, stupid turkey!”

I don’t think those were therapy birds.

Easter, the turkey we are talking about, belongs to a young woman named Jodie Smalley.  Not long after the death of her husband, Jodie adopted her turkey.  Easter was found as a small poult shivering alongside a rainy Seattle area road on Easter Sunday.  Jodie Smalley adopted the turkey and soon discovered that the bird’s company greatly eased the grief over the loss of her spouse.

Jodie spends a great deal of time with her turkey.  The bird often accompanies her in the car as she rockets about town on errands.  Easter enjoys riding “shotgun.”  This last Christmas, Jodie flew from Seattle to Salt Lake City on Delta Airlines to spend time with her family.  Fearing that Christmas would be an emotionally difficult time, Jodie wanted Easter with her.  Delta has a policy of allowing therapy or support pets to fly with their owners so long as they are ‘trained to behave properly in public settings.’  Jodie requested and received permission (at no additional charge) to take her bird on the plane.

The airline is somewhat cautious about therapy pets.  Not much over a year ago, an “emotional support” pig was escorted off a U.S. Airways flight when it began squealing and defecating in the cabin.  The other passengers did not appreciate this.

Thankfully, Easter behaved well on her flight.  The bird sat quietly on Jodie’s lap.  Everyone enjoyed a lovely Christmas Holiday.

   

I thought about my 40 pounds of housecat as I read a Mirror story about Easter.  My 40 pounds of not-so-much therapy housecats would not have enjoyed a flight to Salt Lake City.  My cats are totally food-motivated.  If an airplane is not good to eat, they would not want any part of it.  And they are screamers.  Likely, all three of us would have been arrested long before we boarded the plane.

--Mitchell Hegman

Source: Sophie Evans, Mirror Online