NPR: When Turkeys Attack

When Turkeys Attack

Davis, Calif., used to be a nice place. A college town where you could walk around in peace. But that was before ... before the turkeys came.

Day to Day has the story of what happens when a town is terrorized by a pack of turkeys. Not the plump, overfed birds we'll be carving up Thursday, but wild, lean birds, almost three feet tall, with tattoos that say, "Don't call me butterball." OK, maybe no tattoos, but you get my drift.

The turkeys, who hang out in a cemetery, attack passers-by. They also seem to have issues with bicycles — in a town labeled the nation's most bicycle-friendly.

Cemetery managers hired a trapper to get the birds and take them into the wild. But he gave up after he couldn't entice them into the traps. College researchers also have experimented with turkey alarm calls to scare the aggressive birds. Unfortunately, the Davis turkeys didn't even notice.

My suggestion: Call in someone like Rachael Ray or Emeril Lagasse to make an emergency visit and turn this problem into lunch for the whole town.

7:00 PM ET | 11-19-2007 | permalink

Comments

I believe the more correct term describing a group is turkeys is a clutch, not pack.

Sent by nate allen | 12:54 AM ET | 11-20-2007

Actually they need to call in Uncle Ted(Nugent) and Michael Waddell. There would be fresh turkey and dressing aplenty in short order.

Sent by Damon Smith | 3:42 AM ET | 11-20-2007

Just use a canon-net like this

www.geese.nl/gsg/Gocatch.htm

And I think you will catch your turkeys!

Sent by Paul Russ | 5:50 AM ET | 11-20-2007

The best deterrent is a sheep dog. They have been used on college campuses to rout Canada geese. The handler brings the dog to the cemetery early in the morning and chases them, not hurting them. But they will get the message.

We have wild turkeys in our area--they are not a problem at all. They usually are in clutches of 6 to 12, and they are very quiet and we would never know they had been in our woods until we see the brushed spaces on the ground where they sit.

Now, if someone could help us with the deer, who are running crazy eating all our little trees and plants, particularly roses. The bow hunters are hanging out in trees--we will let anyone hunt on our property to cut the number down. These are big animals who are aggressive in rutting season. Even with our fences around the trees, they tore them off and broke the trees off at the trunk.

Sent by julia ann evans | 7:51 AM ET | 11-20-2007

Get wildlife expert to sturdy the area and find out why they are there and importantly what needs to be done to make that area not attrzctive to them. Then they will move away to happy turkey land. Or just "embrace the turkeys" and make them an attraction.... charge admission but families who had deceased relatives in the cemenatry get a free pass and riot gear to go vist the graves.

Sent by Janet S. Lahm | 8:49 AM ET | 11-20-2007

okay, okay. But how do they pronounce "California"?

Sent by Imogene MaGee | 9:12 AM ET | 11-20-2007

Actually, it's a "rafter" of turkeys. But that doesn't sound as threatening as "pack" (or even "gang"). Visions of punk turkeys smoking on the corner are now dancing in my head...

Sent by Michael Lloyd | 11:46 AM ET | 11-20-2007

We have between one and three dozen turkeys (adults and chicks) on our property each spring - they seem to disappear and hide as Thanksgiving approaches, smart turkeys they. The adults take off when our dog goes out but he and the chicks seem to get along well. The chicks often gather under our deck and he'll join them with no harm coming to anyone. Of course he may be like me, fonder of the stuffing than of the turkey itself

Sent by Joel | 11:56 AM ET | 11-21-2007

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