Credit: SWNS
Don't mention Christmas but one turkey might just avoid the oven this year after becoming best friends with his owner.
Animal lover Dave Brooker goes everywhere with his beloved pet turkey Trouble Version Two - or T2 for short - who is like a child to him and has followed him everywhere from the pub to the dentist since she was born two years ago.
Locals in Maidstone, Kent, are often baffled as they see the 56-year-old sat alongside T2 in his car when they stop at traffic lights, or when he feeds her her favourite snack - the meat from a scotch egg - in the middle of a Tesco's car park.
She can often be seen casually sitting in the White Horse pub in Maidstone with a packet of cheese & onion crisps and has had such an effect on her owner that he's stopped eating turkey for Christmas dinner.
Don't mention Christmas but one turkey might just avoid the oven this year after becoming best friends with his owner.
Animal lover Dave Brooker goes everywhere with his beloved pet turkey Trouble Version Two - or T2 for short - who is like a child to him and has followed him everywhere from the pub to the dentist since she was born two years ago.
Locals in Maidstone, Kent, are often baffled as they see the 56-year-old sat alongside T2 in his car when they stop at traffic lights, or when he feeds her her favourite snack - the meat from a scotch egg - in the middle of a Tesco's car park.
She can often be seen casually sitting in the White Horse pub in Maidstone with a packet of cheese & onion crisps and has had such an effect on her owner that he's stopped eating turkey for Christmas dinner.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00My name's Dave. This is T2, Trouble Version 2, who imprinted on me as a chick. I didn't
00:12take a lot of persuading to keep her, to be honest though, and she's just become a really
00:16big part of my life. Apart from work, she goes everywhere with me. She rides around
00:20in the car, goes shopping, so she waits in the car for me, and enjoys getting out of
00:25the car and eating scotch egg, much to the amusement of a lot of people. And she's brilliant
00:30at breaking down barriers. You speak to people you would never speak to before. Most people
00:34were just absolutely amazed. I've had a lot of people say, I don't think I could ever
00:39eat turkey again. I've got a few turkeys. I keep them just for their eggs, and normally
00:42I try and keep a couple of eggs in the car so that I can give them to people to try.
00:47Mum was sitting on 12 eggs, and the first two hatched, and unfortunately the chicks
00:51got wet and got cold. It must have happened in the very early hours of the morning. They
00:55perished, so I set up a brooder with a heat lamp. She was the first one out. All the other
01:01chicks survived. I managed to keep all the other ten alive. All the other nine went back
01:06under the mum, but this one kept coming back out to me, and without a lot of persuading,
01:10I kept her and then put her back in the brooder and started taking her home, and the adventure
01:16started there. Brilliant entertainment, sometimes annoying. She'll peck your ankles. She's got
01:22a routine, the things she likes. She's clever enough to know when to get out the car and
01:26when not to get out the car, like at different places we go. She recognises where we are.
01:32I think if people could realise how intelligent animals are, not just turkeys, but her definitely,
01:39but maybe we could treat them a little bit better, with more respect sometimes, and not
01:44just look at them as a dinner. I know I still eat meat, but it has changed my opinion of
01:50things. The brilliant thing is the joy she brings to people that do see her, from children
01:57that have never seen an animal. I love the bit that she can just make people smile, and
02:02I think that's the most special thing about her. Whereas a dog would be good for some
02:08people and a cat would be good for other people. I do think that the bond you can get with
02:13different animals, if you treat them well and whatever it is, is fantastic. It's certainly
02:20underrated as an animal that you can bond with.