Editorial

Heartless

Mankind needs to evolve

What happens when government replaces our individual consciences as a guide to moral and ethical behavior?

Answer: You get a bureaucratic response like the one from Lynn Lunsford of the Federal Aviation Administration: "We don't endorse the practice of heaving unsuspecting turkeys out of aircraft for entertainment purposes, but our regulations don't specifically exclude live animals as 'objects.'"

Or, to quote County Judge Terry Ott of Marion County on the poor turkeys' plight: "They're not going to crash. They're birds. They can fly."

But a better guide to both birds and conscience would be Yvonne Vizzier Thaxton, professor of poultry science at the University of Arkansas, who objects to the whole idea of tossing living things, like turkeys, out of either low-flying aircraft or off Yell County's courthouse roof. "Placing turkeys in an environment that is new to them is stressful," she says. "In the case of an airplane, the noise would also be a stress-producing fear reaction. Dropping one from 500 feet is a horrific act of abuse. There is no justification for this practice."

Let it also be noted that Dana Woods, who for some 15 years released the turkeys from his single-engine 1959 Cessna 182B, seems to glory in his informal if not self-assigned title as The Phantom Pilot. As for human qualities like sympathy and empathy for other animals, few of them seem present these days in some folks in Yellville.

Has a better or rather worse case of neutrality between right and wrong been recorded of late in this small, all too wonderful state? Wonderful, or wonder-filled, in the sense of callous disregard for those Scripture says have been given us to name. Mr. Woods is an alderman in Mountain View and former president of the Arkansas Pharmacists Association, and so is not lacking for prestigious titles. Or equally dubious rationalizations for his cruelty presented as kindness. Just listen:

"They can fly a long ways," he says of the hapless birds. "We treat the turkeys right. That may sound ironic, but we don't abuse those turkeys. We coddle and pet those turkeys. We're good to them." Just the way farm wives treat their turkeys before wringing their necks. And their husbands love them on the Thanksgiving dinner plate.

Here's a quote from Gemma Vaughan of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who may have a point for once, if only this once. The notorious Turkey Drop, she says, "is a throwback to a sorry time when human beings were bone ignorant of animals' feelings. But today there's no excuse for yahoos to pretend that they don't know they're engaging in acts of cruelty that shame them and set a lousy example for their kids."

And so PETA is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any participant in this spectacle for a violation of the law, including the one against destruction of personal property, as a turkey falls to the ground. "Just like dogs and cats," she adds, "turkeys feel love and happiness, pain and fear. The use of live animals in this event makes Yellville seem as backward as you can get."

So in place of Biblical injunctions, we now get our new sense of authority and revelation: the great god Public Relations. For in the dim recesses of man's conscience and consciousness, there must still be some recollection of shame if he is inclined to go through all these emotional gymnastics to rationalize it. There's hope yet--for both the turkeys and us.

Mark Hutchings, a biologist supervisor with the state's Game and Fish Commission, notes that turkeys can indeed "fly" for short hops along the ground. But anybody who has ever sat in the Arkansas woods in spring can tell you that turkeys don't fly far, or very well. They can manage to get onto a tree branch to roost at night. But their flying skills are so wanting that they'd rather travel on the ground. Like big chickens. What's next, throwing leghorns and Rhode Island reds out of a crop duster?

A better question: Who are the dumb turkeys here after all?

Editorial on 10/07/2016

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