US President Barack Obama has pardoned a pair of turkeys, keeping to a decades-old Thanksgiving tradition in the White House.

Obama issued pardons to two gobblers named Apple and Cider. The two five-month-old, 20-kilogram turkeys were raised on a California farm. They will be taken to George Washington's estate in Mount Vernon, Virginia, to live out the rest of their natural lives. Obama will share Thursday's Thanksgiving celebrations with those less fortunate at a food kitchen in Washington DC.