The now-infamous Earth Day turkey escaped from the Skidmore green during Saturday's celebrations and is still at large. For years, the petting zoo has been a staple of Skidmore's Earth Day celebrations, allowing students the opportunity to connect with animals and giving vegan students the chance to make their meat-eating peers feel guilty.
"It's a tradition," Suzy Tealeaf '16 noted in a statement to the Skidmore News. "It's like, how could you think of a chicken nugget when you're holding a chick the size of a nugget, y'know?" Tealeaf, the treasurer of Skidmore's Vegan Awareness Club, has been leading a campaign to increase guilt over veal consumption among the student body. She was sitting at the club's booth, handing out Tootsie Rolls and photos of baby lambs at the time of the petting zoo incident. "All of a sudden, I saw it out of the corner of my eye. It was, like, running. Did I try to stop it? No. I believe that animal had the right to choose its own fate."
Tealeaf was one of dozens of students in support of the turkey's choice to remove itself from the designated petting zoo area. Witnesses say other students were cheering the animal on and one student allegedly blocked the owner, riding on horseback, from pursuing the turkey.
Since it's escape, the turkey has been spotted outside of the dining hall and in twoof the Kimball study rooms. Any sightings should be reported to campus safety immediately. The turkey's owner is also offering a monetary reward for the animal's return.