Friends, not food
August 12th, 2009 by admin
It’s been over a week, and still no sign of Tom-Tom.
Tom-Tom is a large, white turkey who went missing on August 1 from the home of Lloyd Russell Sloan, Sr. in Milton, Florida. For the last two and a half years, Tom-Tom has been a member of the Sloan family. He enjoyed riding in the John Deer tractor with children, and he was a popular sight at the small convenience store next door. An article in yesterday’s Santa Rosa Press Gazette described how when the store clerk would step out, Tom-Tom would stand in the door and gobble to announce new customers.
“He loved to be noticed, and he especially loved to have people pat him or rub him on the head,” Sloan recalled. “He especially loved old people, and seemed to have time for them in an extra special way.”
Sloan suspects that Tom-Tom’s friendly nature may have made it easy for someone to grab him. There is a $500 reward for information about the disappearance of Tom-Tom. Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Department at (850) 983-1100.
In other bird news, this week we learned that “Mr. Clucky”, Miami Beach’s most famous chicken, will be headed to a farm in New Hampshire where he is less likely to have run-ins with neighbors.
Mr. Clucky is a rooster who was found on the street and nursed back to health by Mark Buckley. Perched on Mark’s bicycle handlebars, Mr. Clucky was a popular sight on Lincoln Road, where he taught more than a few tourists and locals that chickens are amazing animals.
Mark, a vegetarian, argued that the rooster was no different than a dog, cat or other bird cared for as a companion animal, but the City of Miami Beach refused to grant Mr. Clucky an exemption to city code that prohibits keeping “poultry and other livestock” in residential areas.
Mr. Clucky left an impression in the hearts and minds of many people and we wish him the best of luck in New Hampshire.