While we can’t know where Griffin came from originally, imagine the fear he must have experienced as he ran through the city—or the unexpected glimpse of freedom. Imagine the brief hope that would have been crushed if he were captured by someone less kind.

Thankfully, one act of compassion saved him from a cruel fate.

Once Griffin was safe, he next needed a forever home, and we’re thankful that his rescuers turned to Farm Sanctuary. Our dedicated rescue team helped him get to a veterinarian for an exam, where testing was conducted to rule out bird flu, and for temporary care until he could be welcomed to our Acton sanctuary. 

“When Griffin was at his rescuers’ home and then at the vet for boarding, he was not eating well on his own. He seemed to be in constant ‘flight’ mode and wasn’t sure what to do with himself. The vet tube-fed him twice daily to ensure he was getting the calories he needed. When he arrived at Farm Sanctuary, we pulled out all the stops to try any make him as comfortable as possible,” says Brooke Marshall, senior wellness manager at Acton. “He was still very nervous and didn’t seem interested in eating. It seemed he was very lonely and even depressed, so we gave him a stall attached to the one with Biscuit and Pippa sheep. This way, even though he needed to be in temporary quarantine from our bird population, he wouldn’t feel completely alone.”

Next to his new friends, Griffin began to feel more at ease.

“We put lots of stuffed animals in his stall, as well as a small mirror. He quickly took to the mirror and wanted to look at himself often, so we got him a bigger mirror. We also got him a life-size replica of a turkey hen and set her up in his stall. We gave him all the different kinds of food we could think of, in different places in his stall, on different levels, but mostly in front of his mirror. But he wanted to stand on the bowls in front of the mirror and look at himself, so he kept spilling his food! We put his favorite food, layer crumbles, in a bowl inside a large bucket so it was his perfect height and no longer easy to spill. It seemed we finally cracked the code, and Griffin started to eat with more gusto,” says Brooke.

Each year in the United States, as many as 270 million turkeys are slaughtered for human consumption—and 46 million of these turkeys are killed just for Thanksgiving. Before their deaths, the majority of these sentient birds spend their short lives suffering on factory farms, never knowing freedom or even a moment of kindness. 

Thanks to a kind family, Griffin is safe—and thanks to the support of compassionate people like you, Farm Sanctuary is working toward the day when all farm animals have the chance to live free from harm.