MAKING NO BONES ABOUT TURKEY LEFTOVERS

Although the holidays now have passed by, there still may be turkey leftovers lurking in refrigerators and freezers. Is a partially gnawed drumstick still considered to be "turkey"? Naturally, the law may suggest an answer to this digestive question. In a Michigan case, the court addressed the legal nature of a turkey. Justice Bird stated "the question is a new one in this court." He went on to hold that "an examination of the question has brought with it the conviction that turkeys are animals under the generally accepted definition of that term as used in the law."* However, a Wisconsin court later concluded that turkeys are not "fur-bearing animals" but in fact are "poultry, unless in a wild state, in which they may be "birds or land fowl."**

Is a cooked turkey still a turkey? In an 1823 English case, the court ruled that a reference to "two turkies" means live turkeys, not dead ones.*** One legal reference has stated "it would seem to be implicit in the definition of the word 'animal' that after a creature has died it ceases to be an animal and becomes a mere mass or carcass."**** However, in a leading United States case, a court disagreed, concluding "In common speech, the word 'turkey' is applied to a dead fowl sold in the market, as well as to a living animal."*****

So, are turkey leftovers still turkey, or has one had enough of turkey already to even care? The decisions are clear but not really helpful. Perhaps the best course of action for the leftovers is to make soup out of them--now that would be a real turkey!

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* Holcomb v. Van Zylen, 140 N.W. 521 (1913)

**Town of Albion v. Trask, 41 N.W.2d 627 (1950)

***Rex v. Halloway, 171 Eng. Rep. 1131,1132

****3 C.J.S. Animal sec.1

*****Commonwealth v. Coleman, 68 N.E. 220 (1903)


© Daniel J. Kucera 2020