LSB December 2021 HR

FEATURE
Turkeys and the law
DIANA THOMAS, CHAIR, ANIMAL LAW COMMITTEE
The history and somewhat quirky
nature of turkey case law illustrates
that this humble fowl is so much more
than the traditional protein element in a
festive meal.
BESTIALITY
In 1642, in what was to become
the United States of America, Thomas
Granger was indicted for buggery with “a
mare, a cow, two goats, five sheep, two calves and a
turkey”. The man confessed to ‘lewd acts on
a regular basis’ and was executed. 1
Fast forward 200 years and in 1880 the
NSW courts debated whether a turkey, as
a fowl, could be considered an animal for
the purposes of sodomy.
The case, Queen v Reynolds 2 is one where
“an unnatural connection” took place between
a prisoner and the body of a male turkey.
Debate then ensued as to whether ‘an
unnatural connection’ with a fowl could be
considered sodomy as a fowl did not come
under the term ‘beast’. 3
It was decided that an amendment to
the Act 4 whereby ‘animal ‘was substituted
for ‘beast’ meant that “all animals of the fowl
kind” were now included in the definition.
Thus, sodomy with a turkey became a
crime in Australia.
AIRPLANES
Don Larson 5 was a proud turkey
farmer in Iowa, USA. He valued his stock
and took out an insurance policy on his
turkeys covering death as a result of fire,
lightning, explosion, smoke, vandalism and
malicious mischief caused by huddling,
piling, smothering, drowning, or freezing.
21 July, 1964 was a hot day and two
planes flew over Mr Larson’s turkey farm,
one at 2pm and another at 5pm. There was
32 THE BULLETIN December 2021
nothing unusual about this as Mr Larson’s
farm was on the flight path between
Minneapolis and Des Moines. However,
the 5pm plane was observed to maintain
a height of 150 – 200 feet only and flew
directly over 4300 insured turkeys.
It was alleged the low flying plane
caused the 4300 large turkeys to stampede,
suffocating 2066 of them.
Mr Larson claimed the deceased birds
on his insurance policy under malicious
mischief. The insurer refused the claim
and the matter went to court where an
expert witness testified that:
“The birds that die from fright will die in a
pile. I mean they will get to an object and that
stops them, but they just keep piling on top of
one another, whether it be from flying objects or
from rats.”
Mr Larson’s claim was ultimately
denied by the court on grounds that they
were unable to find in the record:
“any evidence on which the jury could find the
unidentified pilot was bent on mischief against
the plaintiff and was prompted by an evil
mind”.
FEATHERS
A NSW case of Harvey v John Fairfax
Publications Pty Ltd 6 which involved a turkey
farm, has been quoted several times in text
books 7 in the context of form and capacity
challenges in defamation proceedings.
In 1997, the Sydney Morning Herald
published the following in relation to this
case:
“…Harvey was running about 1000 turkeys
in a paddock adjacent to the hotel and ‘it
became a health issue because the residents got
upset about the feathers blowing everywhere and
turkey (droppings) getting into the creek”
The article went on to state:
“The council took him to court and ‘we must
have won because the turkeys disappeared”.
Mr Harvey brought a defamation case
stating, amongst other matters, that the
article impugned that he had seriously
endangered public health.
Ultimately, the initial pleading was
struck out and leave granted for a
repleading without the use of the word
serious.
BRUSH TURKEY EGG OMELETTE.
The native brush turkey was a
common source of meat during the
great depression of the 1930s. 8 The eggs
were celebrated as an excellent source of
protein as they can weigh up to 180g each
and are 80% yolk. 9
After the second world war, due to
decreasing numbers, turkeys became
protected in Queensland 10 and NSW. 11
In South Australia, brush or scrub
turkeys, introduced to Kangaroo Island,
are protected by the National Parks and
Wildlife Act 12 with fines of up to $2500 or
six months in prison for the taking of a
protected animal or their eggs. There are
exceptions to this for Aboriginal persons
where the turkey will be used for food or
cultural purposes. 13
The turkey, both native and introduced,
has shaped Australian bestiality,
defamation and native protection law as
well as feeding us through a depression
and more recently becoming a much-loved
therapy animal. 14 B