I am most certainly a carnivore. But, watching movies like "Charlotte's Web" and "Babe" I have a newfound respect for those on the vegetarian bandwagon. And, by all accounts, today there is another animal that can join the pantheon of beloved animals that we wouldn't want to see fricaseed:
Matilda really is a magic chicken.
Long a prop in a magician's show, the hen from Bessemer has been certified by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest living chicken.
Matilda, who works with Keith Barton in his "Mort the Mystifying" act, is 14 years old. The little gray bird is believed to be an Old English Red Pyle hen.
"She used to have an understudy, but she outlived it," said Barton's wife, Donna, who also is in the act as the magician's assistant.
Matilda's role is to appear in a pan that moments earlier seemed to contain only a fresh egg yolk and a few drops of hot sauce.
I think it's safe to say that Matilda will be spared the deep fryer treatment and live out her life in relative "indentured slave/magic assistant" comfort.
Hmm...Fried chicken...Haven't had that for a while...Is there a Popeye's near here?
Sure, just down the road a piece. Mmmmm, fried chicken. Dammit, I was going to try something healthy and stuff. This last weekend was filled with fatty foods and booze. The Fried Chick is tugging at my chi ...
Posted by: Dr. Biggles | June 21, 2004 at 05:06 PM