How many turkeys are there in the United States? No, not that big frozen blob of white meat masquerading as real bird you'd find at the grocery store. I mean real turkeys.
Not many, it turns out. A survey in 1997 showed that there were only 1,300 turkeys - in the entire country - not bred for the food/avian industrial complex we know as Thanksgiving.
But thankfully, turkey (again, the real variety) is making a comeback. Claire Thompson wrote an interesting article over at Grist:
... if you’re not old enough to remember a time before the Broad Breasted White, you may be surprised that the ALBC’s website calls turkeys “the quintessential American bird.” Indeed, Benjamin Franklin wanted to designate the turkey—indigenous to North and South America—as our national symbol instead of the eagle. And for hundreds of years “turkeys were barnyard staples” in the U.S., says Vaughn. “They’re an easy, abundant source of meat, resilient and self-reliant. It was a no-brainer to have [them] around.”
Fast forward to today, when “they have literally bred all of the turkey out of the turkey,” says Will Harris, owner of White Oak Pastures, the largest USDA-certified organic farm in the state of Georgia. Harris raises American Standard Bronze turkeys, one of eight varieties identified by the ALBC as heritage breed turkeys—or birds descended from a continuous gene pool dating back to before the rise of the Broad Breasted White. Heritage birds can still mate naturally, and have a long outdoor lifespan and slow growth rate. Industrial turkeys, on the other hand, said Harris, “are satisfied to sit in one place and eat and defecate.”
Link - via GOOD Finder
That 1,300 figure must apply only to farmed traditional turkeys, not the wild ones.
While the numbers of wild turkeys has been increasing, as of around 1969 there were around 1.15 Million in the United States as per http://www.wildturkeyzone.com/wildturkey/population.htm
Now, there were some states with populations that low -- but not as a country wide population.
I had the same thought about the stated population. However, upon reading the article itself, it became clear that it was only referring to domestic turkey varieties.
Also, since those bred-for-table turkeys aren't "real," does that mean all the cattle in the country aren't "real," either? They're bred exclusively for dairy and meat purposes, after all.
Stupid article.
Another suburb job, Alex. Keep up the good work and I'm sure you'll be able to work the deep fryer all by yourself any day now.
I came in with the same intention of talking about wild turkeys because there are probably millions of them all around the country.