“The butcher who made seabird sausages took a tern for the wurst”

“The butcher who made seabird sausages took a tern for the wurst,” according to a popular pun. “Tern for the wurst” has been printed on T-shirts.
 
Associated Press writer Jay Sharbutt wrote in August 1974:
 
“It might create a situation not unlike the man who dragged his pet seagull to a German restaurant, despite warnings he was taking a tern for the wurst.”
     
“I was feeding cannabis-laced brownies to the seabirds. No tern was left unstoned” is another “tern”/“turn” pun.
     
       
2 August 1974, The Evening Times (Trenton, NJ), “‘Your Hit Parade’ Not A Lucky Strike” by Jay Sharbutt (AP), col. 6:
It might create a situation not unlike the man who dragged his pet seagull to a German restaurant, despite warnings he was taking a tern for the wurst.
 
Google News Archive
18 December 1975, Spokane (WA) Daily Chronicle, “Critic Amasses Mediocre TV Prediction Score” by Jay Sharbutt (AP), pg. 43, col. 3:
To quote the guy who once saw a sausage-eating seagull, things took a tern for the wurst.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
A tern for the wurst
Author: Mark Mitchell
Publisher: Auckland, N.Z. : Arrow, 1991.
Edition/Format:   Print book : English
Subjects
Caricatures and cartoons—New Zealand.
New Zealand wit and humor, Pictorial.
Caricatures and cartoons.
 
Google News Archive
5 January 1992, The Ledger (Lakeland, FL), “This is a joke” by Lonnie Brown, pg. 3F, col. 5:
Mundt claims that unscrupulous manufacturers are using seagull meat in their sausage, and says this represents (we WARNED you) a tern for the wurst.
 
Google Books
The Endangered Species Cookbook
By B. R. Peterson
Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press
1993
Pg. 22:
A TERN FOR THE WURST
Pluck, clean, and debone tern.
 
Google Books
Punning For Your Life
By Theodore A. Brett
Xlibris Corporation (Xlibris.com)
2002
Pg. 176:
It was inevitable that one day while she went to the local deli for some salami, bologna, and frankfurters, accompanied obviously by her bird, that someone would observe that she had taken a tern for the wurst.
 
Twitter
(((ICETWICE)))
‏@ICETWICE
In other words, he took a “TERN FOR THE WURST”.  Boom Boom, as Basil Brush would say.
3:44 AM - 21 Apr 2009
 
Twitter
barryfrangipane
‏@barryfrangipane
Saw my butcher at the pet store trading sausage for a bird. He took a tern for the wurst.
7:23 AM - 17 Jul 2009
 
Twitter
comedyfish
‏@comedyfish
Just saw an ill guy swapping german sausage for a seabird.
He seems to have taken a Tern for the wurst #terribletweets
10:17 AM - 27 Nov 2010
 
Twitter
Neil
‏@_Enanem_
The boss of a German meat factory accused of using seabirds in his sausages has taken a tern for the wurst.
3:02 AM - 5 Oct 2011
 
Twitter
Moose Allain
‏@MooseAllain
I must be ill - I thought I saw a sausage fly past my window, but it was actually a seabird. I think I’ve taken a tern for the wurst.
6:28 AM - 20 Nov 2013
 
reddit
I saw a sausage fly by my window
submitted June 27, 2016 by NoNedForFoolishness
I must be going insane it was actually a bird.
I think I’ve taken a Tern for the Wurst