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At vegan Pacific Palisades home, turkeys are guests, not main course on Thanksgiving

If you pass Karen Dawn's house in Pacific Palisades, you might see in her front yard behind a white picket fence her elderly pit bull, Paula -- along with two 5-month old turkeys, Ellen and Portia.

The fowl may not be the usual pet choice. But at a time of year when they are the usual food choice for millions of holiday dinners, vegans and animal welfare advocates try to raise consciousness about their slaughter by hosting meat-free dinners and events.

Dawn, an animal advocate and author who is also a vegan, goes further and actually hosts a couple of the birds.

For the third year in a row, Dawn went to a downtown-area supplier of fresh turkeys and bought two 25 pounders for $1.59 a pound, saving them from a date with death.

"I said, 'I'll take two, don't worry about killing them,' " she said Tuesday in an interview.

She then loaded them into a big dog kennel, drove them to her home, treated them to baths in her tub and blow-dried their white feathers to a silky finish.

"Everybody who comes by goes on and on about how pretty they are," Dawn said.

The turkeys — named for Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, who are prominent supporters of animal welfare issues — wander around the yard or hunker down in their outdoor coop with heated shed.

"They're too heavy to fly more than a few feet," said Dawn, noting that turkeys raised for slaughter are bred to have huge chests. "Ellen flew over the front fence once. I put her back inside, and I think she got the message that this side of the fence is home."

Ellen and Portia are still a little shy with visitors. Dawn's last Thanksgiving's turkeys — Monty and Marsha — were so outgoing and people-friendly that she kept them for months before donating them to the farm animal sanctuary, The Gentle Barn, in Santa Clarita.

"Monty was the most amazing pet I ever had," Dawn said. "He was smarter than any dog I ever had. More social. Whenever people would come over, he would stand in the middle of the group, gobbling."

Dawn will eventually donate Ellen and Portia to The Gentle Barn, as well.

Meanwhile, she has a sign on her front fence explaining the turkeys are honored Thanksgiving guests and suggesting people consider eating the soy-based Tofurky for the holiday instead of actual turkey. That hasn't stopped some passers-by from weighing in with "stupid Thanksgiving jokes," Dawn said. "Like asking me if I'm going to be roasting them. I have to try and keep a sense of humor."

Unlike Dawn's dozen human guests expected for Thanksgiving dinner, the turkeys will not be allowed on the patio or onto the rug-covered floor of the dining room, since they are, alas, not housebroken.

The turkeys' own Thanksgiving feast will include some pumpkin pie and vegetables. (Usually they eat an avian pellet diet.) Dawn's guests will dine on butternut squash soup, fake meat made from seitan, and sweet potatoes with vegan marshmallows.

As always, the only turkey for consumption on Dawn's table will be Wild Turkey bourbon.

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Turkey giveaways, Thanksgiving meals on tap for the needy

-- Carla Hall

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