Adopt a new view on turkeys

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. It operates shelters in New York and California where turkeys once destined for the gravy spend their days scratching in the dirt and gobbling.

If you'd like to adopt a turkey - actually, you have to be willing to adopt two or more - contact Farm Sanctuary for an application. You could have your new pets home in time for the holidays.

That one-time $20 gift sponsors a turkey for life, by the way. It also gets you a color photo of the grateful bird and a year's subscription to Farm Sanctuary's quarterly magazine. Find out more at www.adoptaturkey.org or call 1-888-SPONSOR.

- Laurie T. Conrad