THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 10, 1995 TAG: 9512080245
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
Today, Pilgrim, a turkey who's part of the petting farm at Hunt Club Farm Market on London Bridge Road, is a guest columnist. She will tell you a sad tale of what happened recently when a dog was allowed to run loose in her neighborhood.
My name is Pilgrim and I'm not one of those turkeys you'll find on a Thanksgiving or Christmas platter.
I plan to live to a ripe old age and be around for quite a few Thanksgivings and Christmases because they love me over at the petting farm at Hunt Club Farm Market.
I'm so sociable I sometimes think I am more human than turkey. Before Thanksgiving, I would run to meet the school bus when the little children arrived to visit the market on field trips. Then I would let the kids come up and pat me. They always remember my name.
I've also worked my way into the hearts of all my owners - the folks at the market and everybody over at Hunt Club Boarding Kennel and Cattery who help take care of me.
But my plans for a long life were really threatened two weeks ago and it wasn't because someone wanted me for Thanksgiving dinner. It's because someone over in the Hunt Club Forest area let their dog run loose.
And that darn dog almost did me in.
All of us barnyard pals were hanging around one of our favorite spots, the pond in front of the kennel, when this dog comes tearing through. He chased the peacocks up into the trees. My mom as well as all the ducks ran into the pond, and we turkeys don't swim unless we are really scared! Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the pond.
The dog bit off both the tip of my wing and the tip of my tail bone and took a big bite in my side. It took five people from the kennel to save me and I've been sore all over ever since.
To keep me from getting an infection, Kathie Vogel who is a owner/manager at the kennel and her daughter, Kelley Nelson, had to pluck all my feathers out in the area of my wounds. That really hurt, but I think it hurt them even more than me.
``It's terrible, terrible,'' they kept saying and I agreed.
Since then Kathie and Kelley worked hard to get me well, cleaning my wounds twice a day. They kept me safe, dry and clean in a pen in the kennel where I could heal.
I'm too trusting, I guess. You see, I like most dogs. That's because Kathie's dogs don't chase me. They just come up and sniff.
Still, I don't blame the dog exactly. His owners should not have let him run loose. That's what Kathie and Kelley said, too.
They told me the dog was nice once they got him away from me. They said most any dog would go on a rampage like that if it hadn't been around farm animals before.
I was luckier than some. One of the turkeys at the petting farm named Thanksgiving was killed two years ago by another dog. Still another dog got hold of our friendly goat and did a lot of damage to him. And not long ago, a pair of dogs went on a real killing spree, tore out the bottom of the rabbit hutch and killed the rabbits along with some chickens and ducks.
The sad thing is all these dogs were neighbors. They weren't strays but pets that lived in neighborhoods near us on London Bridge Road.
Kathie and Kelley tell me that some dog owners are more neighborly than others. Some will apologize and pay vet bills and do anything to make up for letting their dogs run loose and doing so much damage.
But this dog's owners were not nice at all. They didn't even act sorry. Kathie says when she told the lady what her dog had done to me, she said, ``I didn't come in here for a lecture!'' She also says the lady told them she would not pay my veterinarian bills if I had any.
It's hard to believe. The staff at the kennel had endangered themselves by capturing the dog. Then because they were trying to be neighborly, they didn't call Animal Control. Instead they kept the dog overnight, feeding it and walking it. Since it didn't have any tags, they had to make a lot of calls to find the owner.
And what thanks did they get! None.
Well, I'm one lucky turkey. I'm getting better every day and my owners let me go back to work at the petting farm a few days ago.
But next time, we might not be so lucky. Take it from a turkey who's learned the hard way.
Don't let your dog run loose in Virginia Beach. It's against the law. It's also against the law for a dog to attack livestock and it's against the law for a dog not to have a license.
Next time my owners might not be so nice and your dog will end up at Animal Control and you'll have a hefty fine to pay.
And I might end up dead.
P.S. Stop by and wish Pilgrim well at Hunt Club Farm Market on London Bridge Road. The market has trees and wreaths and other Christmas decorations for sale. The Garden Gate is a new feature. It's a rustic gift shop with homemade delicacies like pepper and herbal vinegars, local crafts, topiaries and more. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY REID BARROW
Pilgrim, a turkey who's part of the petting farm at Hunt Club Farm
Market on London Bridge Road, plans to live to a ripe old age.
by CNB