Wilbur the turkey has been spared a messy end on the dinner table this Christmas — as he’s not very bootiful.

Customers were put off by the nine-month-old Norfolk Black’s “sad and bedraggled” appearance.

He is underweight, has no tail feathers, a misshapen body — and walks with a limp.

...

But the good news for Wilbur is that soft-hearted Peter, 66, and wife Jackie, 64, are going to keep him as a pet at the farm in Totnes, Devon.

Peter, chairman of the Turkey Club UK, said Wilbur will live out his days in a “happy and peaceful” retirement — free to roam the 72-acre farm alongside the cattle, ducks, chickens and breeding turkeys.

Dad-of-four Peter added: “One thing’s for sure — he’s the luckiest little bird in the world.

“Wilbur will become one of the family. He might be an ugly old thing, but we think he’s lovely.”

Timmeh.