The annual Thanksgiving presidential turkey pardon is going to a California native this year. A Foster Farms turkey from Modesto, California and his alternate were selected Thursday to be spared by the President of the United States.
The birds, Tom 1 and Tom 2, have already flown from San Francisco International Airport to Washington, D.C. to meet with President Obama. After the annual pardoning ceremony in the Rose Garden Wednesday, they’ll be sent to live out their days on a farm in Virginia.
The tradition is said to have originated with President Abraham Lincoln’s decision to spare the life of his family’s Thanksgiving turkey in 1863. It wasn’t until 1989, however, that President George H.W. Bush began the official turkey pardon.
Last year’s lucky gobblers were from Mercer County, Ohio.
Read more about this year’s lucky turkeys here.