One local turkey is spared a spot at the Thanksgiving dinner table thanks to the students at Dallas F. Nicholas Sr. Elementary School in Baltimore.

Kindergarteners donned handmade turkey hats and marched with signs reading ‘Pardon Ted Please’ and ‘Please Don’t Eat Me’ on Tuesday to convince CEO Sonja Santelises to save their feathered friend, who they lovingly named ‘Ted.’

The students also presented a petition signed by every one of their peers on Ted’s behalf.

“Please pardon Ted because turkeys are really important birds,” said fifth-grader Je’Myaa Moore, who read a persuasive essay at the event to seal the deal. “Domesticated turkeys have been around for two thousand years. They have families and live on farms and in the forest.”

Mayor Brandon Scott also showed up to cast his vote to free Ted.

“I have never seen such a dedicated group,” Scott said to the students. “So my vote is yes that we save Ted, not only because you all are so cute and you're so organized, but I also don't eat meat, so I don't eat turkey for Thanksgiving either.”

But Santelises had the final call — and she eventually gave in to the students’ pleas, despite calling it a “really difficult choice.”

“I like turkey; I like gravy; I like stuffing,” she said. “But I want you to know that the persuasion of this artful kindergarten protest combined with Je’Myaa’s fabulous writing…I guess I will have to get another turkey for Thanksgiving.”