Channel 4 News in Tucson, Arizona, USA reported, “The main course at most Thanksgiving dinners, was the guest of honor at Govinda’s restaurant, and was strolling the outdoor patio today. This local establishment has been serving ‘Tofu Turkey’ to patrons since 1992.” The regular guest-of-honor turkey at the restaurant was getting older and a bit scruffy, so they needed to find another turkey for the annual Thanksgiving Dinner. Congregation member Nama Priya was in charge of securing another one, as she has been doing for the last 10 years.

There was a pair of full-grown black and brown male turkeys at a house where she does hospice work, and she decided to ask the owners about taking the turkeys to Govinda’s for the holiday dinner event. The family replied that only one bird remained as one had just been slaughtered that very morning. Nama Priya gratefully took the remaining male and was happy she was able to save this one, at least for some time.

The turkey, who we called Fortunoso (“Fortunate” in Spanish) was a great crowd-pleaser and all the 300-plus guests who came to eat the blessed ahimsa meal took pictures, and marveled at the turkey’s beauty and poise. Toward the end of the afternoon everyone in the restaurant crew felt they did not want to return Fortunoso to his ominous fate and decided to ask the crowd if anyone wanted to ‘adopt’ the turkey as a pet, and save him from certain slaughter. A caring family who had a small farm outside of Tucson stepped forward and agreed to pay for the turkey and take him home. They asked us for a Sanskrit name and we gave him the appropriate name ‘Mukti’.

Mukti`s new home to live out his life naturally