We didn’t get to know her for long, but little Ruth made her mark.

When I got asked if we would take in a baby turkey, and that it was urgent as she wasn’t doing well, I didn’t hesitate. I got in the truck and went straight to her. She was just a baby, who should’ve been warm, fed, and safe. Instead, she was brought to some caring folks already starving and far too cold for her age.

I wrapped her in my hoodie and held her on my lap the whole way home, heat on full blast, hoping against hope she’d make it back to the sanctuary where we could give her fluids, warmth, and a fighting chance.
For one brief moment, she fluttered and lifted her head — a flicker of life. Then she was gone.

We named her Ruth, after Ruth Harrison, the author of Animal Machines — a woman who gave voice to farmed animals and helped wake the world up to how cruel our systems can be.

The truth is, we don’t know how Ruth came to be in the situation she was in. She may have been bought, hatched, or found. But we do know this: she was brought into the world by human hands, and she deserved more than a short life marked by suffering.

Ruth’s story is not just about one baby turkey. It’s about how easily animals fall through the cracks when we treat them as commodities, not as lives.

She mattered.

She didn’t get to grow up at the sanctuary. But she was held. She was warm. And she was not alone.
Rest gently, little one. We will remember you.