Farm Sanctuary

Of all the animals that have come to Chenoa Manor, the geese were the worst off. Originally intended for the French delicacy foie gras, some of the birds were so obese that they couldn't walk, and none knew how to eat, as they had been force-fed their entire lives. So Rob Teti, a Chester County veterinarian with a soft spot for all creatures in distress, put the geese in with his chickens, so they could watch and learn how to peck at food. Thankfully, they turned out to be quick studies.

Here's a novel idea: Don't eat turkey this year; adopt one. There's a warm, if wattled, side to the critters, according to Susie Coston, national shelter director for Farm Sanctuary, which places turkeys for adoption around the country. "Most people don't realize what great companions turkeys can be," she said. "They are social, sensitive creatures, capable of feeling joy and pain, much like one's cat or dog. " Not feeling the love for an unplucked bird? Eat your drumstick and spare one, too, by sending a $20 donation to Sanctuary.

For the Thanksgiving reveler with an environmental conscience, Gloria Feldscher-Cohen is a woman ready to talk turkey. As a member of the Farm Sanctuary adopt-a-turkey program, she can credit herself with saving at least one feathered life among the 27 million slated for slaughter this week. The idea behind the program, according to a letter Feldscher-Cohen sent to area newspapers, is to "feed a turkey, rather than feed on one. " Feldscher-Cohen, who lives in Gulph Mills, said her interest in Farm Sanctuary originally was motivated by concerns about the way turkeys are raised.

Clyde the turkey was stuffed. He and five of his feathered friends, all guests of honor at a vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner yesterday afternoon, had just feasted on organically grown grain. While the turkeys lolled contentedly in a backyard pen, about 30 animal- rights activists and guests gobbled up such vegetarian delights as "wheat meat" flavored with soy sauce, baked and stuffed hubbard squash and pumpkin pie made with tofu. The meatless feast, held in a rowhouse that serves as national headquarters for an animal rights group called Farm Sanctuary, celebrated the recent "liberation" of Clyde and nine other turkeys from their cages on farms throughout the Delmarva peninsula.

Good question What are the odds of a man becoming president and there being a war against a Middle Eastern country - and then his son becoming president and there being another war against a Middle Eastern country? Mark F . Walker, Philadelphia The vegan way Thank you for including articles on "alternative" diets, such as vegan and vegetarian (Nov. 14). Not everyone consumes animal-based foods. Jay Hamburger, Houston Thank you so much for your vegan articles - you set a wonderful example.

A Bucks County couple paid $20 yesterday morning for two live turkeys that they promised not to eat. It was part of an effort by Farm Sanctuary, a national animal-rights organization, to encourage people "to have a vegetarian Thanksgiving once they . . . see that they are living, feeling animals. " So what does the Bucks couple intend to feast on, come Thanksgiving? "We'll have turkey, at my sister-in-law's in Roxborough," said Theresa Grimes, standing with her husband, Tom, in a field at their home in New Britain Township.

A previously unknown animal-rights group said that it staged a predawn raid yesterday on a Delaware egg farm, spray-painted the words Animal Auschwitz on a henhouse wall and took 25 birds from their cages. A spokesman for the Farm Freedom Fighters said through the president of another animal-rights organization that the raid was the first of many planned in an attempt to free farm animals from abuse and to publicize the animals' plight. Yesterday's raid was at Sydel's Egg Farm in Hartly, west of Dover.

HARRISBURG - Authorities are conducting autopsies to determine how 925 pigs were left to die in a barn in south-central Pennsylvania - and to decide whether to charge anyone with a crime. The pigs' carcasses were found in various states of decay last Monday, scattered inside a warehouse-style barn on a farm in Warfordsburg, near the Maryland border. "We are trying to determine exactly what happened," said State Police Lt. Gregory Bacher, adding that he has never seen an apparent act of animal cruelty of this magnitude in 26 years on the job. "There are some factors we can't release now. " The farm's owner, Daniel Clark, left the property in August, authorities said, and the pigs appeared to have been dead for several months.

GOBBLERS GOBBLE UP HEAPS OF ATTENTION AT FEAST Seven plump turkeys were the main attraction at Karin Yates' pre- Thanksgiving dinner in Pittsboro, N.C., and they weren't even the main course. They were among more than 100 turkeys rescued in August after their containers fell off a truck. A group called Farm Sanctuary, based in Watkins Glen, N.Y., raised the turkeys as pets for its national "Adopt-A-Turkey" program, and brought them to what's been the nation's top turkey-growing state for a decade, producing 61 million birds just this year.

Where's the beef? He's 1,500 pounds and piebald, and has been on the lam for more than a month. Yesterday, police in two South Jersey counties continued to search for a red-and-white steer that escaped certain death as he was being unloaded April 16 at a Berlin Township slaughterhouse. The hefty Hereford was last spotted May 2 in Evesham. "What's amazing to me is how he made it from Berlin to Voorhees and Evesham," said Sgt. Jane Donohue of the New Jersey SPCA. "It's close to 20 miles!"

Before the tryptophan kicks in, take a minute to thank our culture's greatest gift to humanity: The reality star. We thank you, Kate Gosselin , you, faithful New York hausfrau Bethenny Frankel , and most of all, you, beloved 72-day bride, Kim Kardashian . The stars also give thanks of their own. Lil Wayne flew back home to New Orleans, to hand out free turkeys. For her part, daytime gabber Ellen DeGeneres wants to save the turkeys from their cruel bondage. Ellen is the spokesperson for Farm Sanctuary's Adopt-a-Turkey Project.

Only the flies are free to come and go at a stinky warehouse in Upper Darby that advertises fresh meat. The yellow street sign outside the Madina Live Poultry Co., on Fourth Street just off Baltimore Pike, says fresh lamb, goats and chickens are right inside, past the barbed-wire fence. "00% Halal fresh," reads the sign, which has lost a "1. " The manure-like smell invades your nostrils the closer you get. Inside, a turkey sits on the floor in a cage, along with smaller birds on a shelf.

HARRISBURG - Authorities are conducting autopsies to determine how 925 pigs were left to die in a barn in south-central Pennsylvania - and to decide whether to charge anyone with a crime. The pigs' carcasses were found in various states of decay last Monday, scattered inside a warehouse-style barn on a farm in Warfordsburg, near the Maryland border. "We are trying to determine exactly what happened," said State Police Lt. Gregory Bacher, adding that he has never seen an apparent act of animal cruelty of this magnitude in 26 years on the job. "There are some factors we can't release now. " The farm's owner, Daniel Clark, left the property in August, authorities said, and the pigs appeared to have been dead for several months.

Of all the animals that have come to Chenoa Manor, the geese were the worst off. Originally intended for the French delicacy foie gras, some of the birds were so obese that they couldn't walk, and none knew how to eat, as they had been force-fed their entire lives. So Rob Teti, a Chester County veterinarian with a soft spot for all creatures in distress, put the geese in with his chickens, so they could watch and learn how to peck at food. Thankfully, they turned out to be quick studies.

Here's a novel idea: Don't eat turkey this year; adopt one. There's a warm, if wattled, side to the critters, according to Susie Coston, national shelter director for Farm Sanctuary, which places turkeys for adoption around the country. "Most people don't realize what great companions turkeys can be," she said. "They are social, sensitive creatures, capable of feeling joy and pain, much like one's cat or dog. " Not feeling the love for an unplucked bird? Eat your drumstick and spare one, too, by sending a $20 donation to Sanctuary.

Where's the beef? He's 1,500 pounds and piebald, and has been on the lam for more than a month. Yesterday, police in two South Jersey counties continued to search for a red-and-white steer that escaped certain death as he was being unloaded April 16 at a Berlin Township slaughterhouse. The hefty Hereford was last spotted May 2 in Evesham. "What's amazing to me is how he made it from Berlin to Voorhees and Evesham," said Sgt. Jane Donohue of the New Jersey SPCA. "It's close to 20 miles!"

He is a big man, with thick mitts for hands and biceps bulging out of his cutoff sweatshirt. He straightens up from his raking and seems to fill the small barn entirely. "I go for bunnies," Mike Bobniz confesses, glancing down at several dozen rabbits nosing in the newly spread bedding. His wife, Linda, puts down a bucket of rabbit manna and adds, "We have rabbits at home in Cleveland. " So when they arrive at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary here for their annual volunteer vacation week, they sign up for the Bunny House.

Good question What are the odds of a man becoming president and there being a war against a Middle Eastern country - and then his son becoming president and there being another war against a Middle Eastern country? Mark F . Walker, Philadelphia The vegan way Thank you for including articles on "alternative" diets, such as vegan and vegetarian (Nov. 14). Not everyone consumes animal-based foods. Jay Hamburger, Houston Thank you so much for your vegan articles - you set a wonderful example.

A Bucks County couple paid $20 yesterday morning for two live turkeys that they promised not to eat. It was part of an effort by Farm Sanctuary, a national animal-rights organization, to encourage people "to have a vegetarian Thanksgiving once they . . . see that they are living, feeling animals. " So what does the Bucks couple intend to feast on, come Thanksgiving? "We'll have turkey, at my sister-in-law's in Roxborough," said Theresa Grimes, standing with her husband, Tom, in a field at their home in New Britain Township.

GOBBLERS GOBBLE UP HEAPS OF ATTENTION AT FEAST Seven plump turkeys were the main attraction at Karin Yates' pre- Thanksgiving dinner in Pittsboro, N.C., and they weren't even the main course. They were among more than 100 turkeys rescued in August after their containers fell off a truck. A group called Farm Sanctuary, based in Watkins Glen, N.Y., raised the turkeys as pets for its national "Adopt-A-Turkey" program, and brought them to what's been the nation's top turkey-growing state for a decade, producing 61 million birds just this year.