Trixie the turkey survives another Christmas!

Galway’s favourite feathered friend, who is facing a record sixth Christmas, is thriving since retiring to the countryside earlier this year.

Trixie the Turkey, who survived five Christmases at St Mary’s nursing home in Galway city, is now living the high-life at Kiltormer Nursing Home in the county.

Yvonne Carpenter, St. Mary’s Director of Nursing, said that in her heart of hearts, she didn’t think Trixie was a city bird.

“I think she got fed up of us here,” joked Ms Carpenter.

It turns out that Trixie’s minders, two alpacas, Happy and Larry, aren’t really city slickers either and have moved to Kiltormer with her. “They prefer the country air,” added Ms Carpenter.

Trixie was destined for the dinner table of St Mary’s nursing home in December 2013. But fate and a broken wing intervened to save Trixie from the oven – she was put on a course of antibiotics . . . and turkeys on medication cannot be eaten.

The residents became so attached to Trixie, they voted not to eat her the following Christmases either. And now Trixie is the oldest – and luckiest – turkey in the land that was bred for the Christmas market.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune