Hello my name is Stan.

My name is STAN. I am not exactly sure how old I am but it must be a few years as I was bought from the Christmas Turkey Auction at Henley in Arden market and that stopped some time ago.  What happened was that we turkeys were auctioned live at the market at Christmas and the proceeds of the auction went to charity.  Unfortunately the auction was far from charitable and what happened afterwards to some of my fellows was down right inhumane. My companions were sold to members of the general public who then took them out into the car park and adopted various ways of killing them.  Some of these included hitting my friends over the head with a hammer, stamping on their heads and slamming their heads in car doors.   You could hear people asking each other “How long did it take to kill yours” and “How did you kill yours”.
It was an indescribable experience to know that this was happening and to hear it going on.  Janet had been going to this auction for years and buying as many of us as she could. She campaigned for the Humane Slaughter Unit to be brought in and eventually it was.  That must have improved things a bit.  Anyway, I was one of the most fortunate turkeys in the world the day she bought me and brought me back to the Sanctuary.  I can go outside when I want, have loads of fresh vegetables, brown bread and corn to eat and a cosy shed for the night time so that Foxy can’t make off with any of us – he is a bit that way inclined at times.