For the first time ever, the White House enlisted Facebook to help President Obama make one of the most important decisions he could ever make as Commander in Chief and leader of the free world: Which turkey he should officially pardon for the 2012 Thanksgiving celebration.
The White House asked Facebook users to vote between two 40+-pound birds named Cobbler and Gobbler. They cast their votes by liking and sharing separate posts feature each turkey.
Facebook has spoken, and they chose Cobbler as this years official Thanksgiving turkey. Cobbler received a little under 200 more “likes” and about 40 more shares over the last couple of days.
As you would expect, PETA wasn’t pleased and asked President Obama to forgo the tradition of pardoning a turkey.
“The White House turkey “pardon” is a sorely outdated event. It makes light of the mass slaughter of some 46 million gentle, intelligent birds and portrays the United States’ president as being in some sort of business partnership with the turkey-killing industry. Turkeys do not need to be “pardoned”—they are not guilty of anything other than being born into a world of prejudice. They are innocents who should be respected for who they are: good mothers, smart birds, and interesting animals,” wrote PETA President Ingrid Newkirk in a letter to Obama.
Despite this protest, the pardoning went on as scheduled. You can watch it below:
If you’re worried about what happened to Gobbler, the White House wants to assuage your fears:
“It’s all gravy — no turkeys will be harmed during the selection of the National Thanksgiving Turkey. After the pardoning, both turkeys travel to George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens to reside in a custom-made enclosure at Mount Vernon’s nationally recognized livestock facility.”
Sure, it’s living out its days on a farm somewhere. Like we haven’t heard that before…