Turkeys pardoned by presidents have a short parole

President Trump pardons Peas, the National Thanksgiving Turkey. (Associated Press photo by Andrew Harnik)

The pardoning of the White House turkey is a light-hearted tradition, but something you might not know is that, pardoned or not, such turkeys won't likely live to see another Thanksgiving. Turkeys bred for human consumption put on pounds so quickly that they frequently suffer from bone and heart problems that limit their lifespan to about a year. Slower-growing wild turkeys often live from three to five years, Sarah Zimmerman reports for Politico.

It's interesting to see how much selective breeding has tailored turkeys to optimum efficiency as meat birds. Commercial turkeys are usually white, flightless, and weigh about 40 pounds, while their wild brethren are typically brown, able to fly a short distance, and weigh 20 to 30 pounds.

This year's pardoned turkey, Peas, along with alternate Carrots made it through an even more rigorous selection process. Both were in a flock of 50 candidates in Huron, S.D. "Since June, the birds underwent various tests to see which could best handle being around large crowds, bright lights and loud music," Zimmerman reports. "They were fed a diet of corn and soybean meal to fatten them up with the expectation that nearly all of them would be sent to the dinner table. Peas and Carrots were the pick of the flock, and Peas won the right to be the official National Thanksgiving Turkey via an online poll."

Peas and Carrots will spend their rest of their days roaming around the campus at Virginia Tech's Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences; the school will pay for their food and medical care.