Bludgeoning of wild turkey by mail carrier in the Sacramento area being investigated

[bcla]

They tend to be pretty calm around here, but I've heard of aggression before, such as one in Martha's Vinyard that was shot by police.

https://www.kcra.com/article/wild-t...ker-sacramento-county-witnesses-say/39306361#​

Wildlife experts told KCRA 3 they’re investigating Monday’s mail carrier incident when the turkey troubles reached a boiling point.​

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“The mail carrier apparently had some type of a stick or club and the turkey tried to attack him and he smacked it with the club and killed it,” Foy said.​

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Witnesses discussed the incident with fellow neighbors on the NextDoor social media platform saying that the turkey was beaten and left for dead at the intersection of Creekside and Morse.​

CDFW had to come to remove it from the neighborhood.​

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“I'm a game warden. I've been doing this 25 years,” Foy said. “It was the biggest turkey I have ever seen.”​

Wardens are investigating the mail carrier's alleged use of force to see whether it was justified or whether a crime was committed.​

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“They have tried pepper-spraying them, they have kicked them, they have hit them with their mailbags and nothing's working," Foy said.​

 

[tvguy]

I live a few miles from where this happened. We have LOTS of wild turkeys here, and the Toms can be very aggressive.
We had a Producer who was chased by a Wild Turkey in the SAME area. Ironically, the mailman came to her rescue.

 

[kymom99]

Speaking as someone who used to get attacked by barnyard roosters when trying to collect eggs, if a wild Turkey came at me I would do the same. For the love of god, why are we vilifying a mailman for trying to do his job?

 

[bcla]

Speaking as someone who used to get attacked by barnyard roosters when trying to collect eggs, if a wild Turkey came at me I would do the same. For the love of god, why are we vilifying a mailman for trying to do his job?

Most carry pepper spray these days - mostly for aggressive dogs. They may not work on birds though.

 

[kymom99]

Th

Most carry pepper spray these days - mostly for aggressive dogs. They may not work on birds though.

The article referenced above says they have tried that and other things

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

For the love of god, why are we vilifying a mailman for trying to do his job?

Well delivering mail is their job that's not what people object to. I would probably want to see if anyone has a camera (which many streets these days have at least one or two homes on it with that) to see was this a self defense or was this a person who did it without provocation. Past behaviors do not mean premeditation of getting rid of something (that's what a video might be able to clear up). Also in question would be the use of force and if it was necessary. I couldn't quite tell if the object was something normally found in a mail vehicle or if it was something this particular mail carrier brought with them but that would be a question is the use of a stick or club warranted. Did the mail carrier have this on their person ready and aimed to attack should any wild turkey even approach them? Or was this a quick split second decision? The article does mention this "The mail carrier apparently had some type of a stick or club and the turkey tried to attack him and he smacked it with the club and killed it" which suggests the mail carrier was carrying with it on their person already before the turkey initiated an attack.

I'm not really saying whether it's on the mail carrier or not but there are legit questions that should be asked in a specific case like this.

As an aside has anyone there tried to relocate these wild turkeys? Or at least some of them? Def. the neighbors need to understand feeding wildlife has consequences and one of which is comfortability with humans which isn't always a good thing.

 

[easyas123]

Speaking as someone who used to get attacked by barnyard roosters when trying to collect eggs, if a wild Turkey came at me I would do the same. For the love of god, why are we vilifying a mailman for trying to do his job?

Honestly - YES! This shouldn't even be a issue.

(we had a insurance agent in the 80's put 'attack goose' on my Dad's property insurance policy since the goose had a go at him while he was meeting my dad at the farm...that goose was mean!

 

[Planogirl]

I doubt that mail carriers are walking around looking to kill turkeys. This carrier has probably had issues before and carried the weapon for protection.

 

[ronandannette]

I'm totally Team Mailman.

 

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

I doubt that mail carriers are walking around looking to kill turkeys. This carrier has probably had issues before and carried the weapon for protection.

I believe it’s fairly common for mail carriers to have some form of self defense device. I don’t think typically to club turkeys, but dog attacks on mail carriers is very common.

I would only be interested in videos if they specifically showed the carrier committing an unprovoked attack. My assumption is completely that the carrier felt threatened, and defended themselves.

Wild animals attack people - this is well known and fairly common. Mail carriers have to defend themselves from animal attacks - also known and common. Hmmm… maybe the least likely thing (animal abuser mail carrier was looking to add a turkey head to his wall) is what actually happened!

I don’t know why anyone would think that the incident needs to be investigated.

on the other hand - why isn’t anyone concerned that the carrier didn’t call animal control to see if the turkey could be saved? Or at least cleared off the sidewalk?

 

[kymom99]

I knew a lady who read electric meters. She walked under a tree and a monkey grabbed her pony tail.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don’t know why anyone would think that the incident needs to be investigated.

Because they aren't sure if this is a unprovoked or provoked attack? That's what the article at least made it sorta seem like.

on the other hand - why isn’t anyone concerned that the carrier didn’t call animal control to see if the turkey could be saved? Or at least cleared off the sidewalk?

That could be part of the criminal question, IDK

It's a question I had and made it not so black and white to me.

While it may just be lip service the USPS is leaving room for this to not be considered an appropriate action the particular mail carrier took.

 

[bcla]

As an aside has anyone there tried to relocate these wild turkeys? Or at least some of them? Def. the neighbors need to understand feeding wildlife has consequences and one of which is comfortability with humans which isn't always a good thing.

They're not native to California. They were brought in decades ago for hunting and they've since established a population where they reproduce at high rates. There probably isn't any place they could be safely relocated where it wouldn't just make the problem worse by further spreading an invasive species. They were brought in to be hunted, and I have no issues if they might be eliminated.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/california-s-wild-turkey-troubles/​

As part of a major state-sponsored recreational hunting program, the California Fish and Game Commission introduced thousands of farm-raised turkeys into the wild from the early 1900s through the 1950s. In spite of these introductions, the population remained flat, probably because these turkeys lacked the skills to survive in the wild.​

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From 1959 through 1999, however, the Commission, now the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, imported and released thousands of live-trapped wild turkeys (mostly of the Rio Grande subspecies from Texas) at over 200 locations, and these had no problem adapting to the California environment. Their population rapidly increased and their territory expanded throughout the state.Today, descendants of these turkeys occupy over 29,000 square miles of California—about one quarter of the state. They can make a living almost anywhere: agricultural fields and orchards, golf courses, university campuses, residential areas, urban sidewalks, freeway entrances and exits, and state and national parks to name just a few.​

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

They're not native to California. They were brought in decades ago for hunting and they've since established a population where they reproduce at high rates. There probably isn't any place they could be safely relocated where it wouldn't just make the problem worse by further spreading an invasive species. They were brought in to be hunted, and I have no issues if they might be eliminated.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/california-s-wild-turkey-troubles/​

As part of a major state-sponsored recreational hunting program, the California Fish and Game Commission introduced thousands of farm-raised turkeys into the wild from the early 1900s through the 1950s. In spite of these introductions, the population remained flat, probably because these turkeys lacked the skills to survive in the wild.​

​

From 1959 through 1999, however, the Commission, now the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, imported and released thousands of live-trapped wild turkeys (mostly of the Rio Grande subspecies from Texas) at over 200 locations, and these had no problem adapting to the California environment. Their population rapidly increased and their territory expanded throughout the state.Today, descendants of these turkeys occupy over 29,000 square miles of California—about one quarter of the state. They can make a living almost anywhere: agricultural fields and orchards, golf courses, university campuses, residential areas, urban sidewalks, freeway entrances and exits, and state and national parks to name just a few.​

So are these (or some of them) turkeys unable to be relocated just outside of a more densely populated area? I'm not talking about the entire species of wild turkeys in CA but the ones in this particular area that seem to be causing such an issue. Are hunters allowed to kill a certain amount of wild turkeys per year or something like that?

In our area coyotes have become quite big in the population. The ironic reason for their population continuing to thrive despite controversial hunting allowances (basically wooing the coyotes to your area using sounds to lure them) is because wolves were removed from the population in too great of numbers. Wolves kept the coyote population in check. The other issue was removal of trees where their habitat is is pushing them further and further into the more suburban areas where it's not uncommon nowadays to see them in the day light walking on the street. And for my state there is no limit to hunting (as in no particular season or number you can kill) for coyote hunting and you can now hunt at night with night scopes although you cannot shoot them within city limits as that's illegal to open fire outside of gun ranges.

It just seems like it's putting people between a rock and a hard place here. The turkeys aren't always a nuisance but when they are they really are but then should people be having to resort to beating them to death because that's fairly inhumane (which is part of the reason I said the coyote hunting allowances were controversial given the luring although the USDA shoots them from a helicopter or uses cyanide traps in addition to other things).

 

[RedAngie]

https://www.disboards.com/threads/wild-turkeys-terrorizing-neighborhood.3778531/
Not the first thread about vicious wild turkeys.

 

[bcla]

So are these (or some of them) turkeys unable to be relocated just outside of a more densely populated area? I'm not talking about the entire species of wild turkeys in CA but the ones in this particular area that seem to be causing such an issue. Are hunters allowed to kill a certain amount of wild turkeys per year or something like that?

In our area coyotes have become quite big in the population. The ironic reason for their population continuing to thrive despite controversial hunting allowances (basically wooing the coyotes to your area using sounds to lure them) is because wolves were removed from the population in too great of numbers. Wolves kept the coyote population in check. The other issue was removal of trees where their habitat is is pushing them further and further into the more suburban areas where it's not uncommon nowadays to see them in the day light walking on the street. And for my state there is no limit to hunting (as in no particular season or number you can kill) for coyote hunting and you can now hunt at night with night scopes although you cannot shoot them within city limits as that's illegal to open fire outside of gun ranges.

It just seems like it's putting people between a rock and a hard place here. The turkeys aren't always a nuisance but when they are they really are but then should people be having to resort to beating them to death because that's fairly inhumane (which is part of the reason I said the coyote hunting allowances were controversial given the luring although the USDA shoots them from a helicopter or uses cyanide traps in addition to other things).

We've got all those problems. Bears and mountain lions keep down prey species like deer. I'm pretty sure that mountain lions have taken down turkeys. But people freak out when there are mountain lions near suburban populations.

 

[tcufrog]

I vote for killing the turkeys and serving them for Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless, assuming that they aren't diseased. They aren't native to the area and are causing major problems. Remember, birds are evolved dinosaurs.

 

[kymom99]

We get turkeys in our back yard here in the suburbs. We like seeing them out the windows. I have no problem with them being here, however, when I was a kid and I lived in this same house, we never saw them around. I know habitat destruction is one reason they and other wildlife come so close. The minute one of them attacks would be a different story. I have heard stories of people being spurred by them.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We've got all those problems. Bears and mountain lions keep down prey species like deer. I'm pretty sure that mountain lions have taken down turkeys. But people freak out when there are mountain lions near suburban populations.

Yeah mountain lions are still considered rare in my state and confirmed sightings are tracked for the purposes of migration. Bobcats however are very common (even in the 'burbs) and even though their tail (lack of one really) should give them away people often mistake for mountain lions.

Sounds like maybe there should be more looking into population control of the turkeys. Not always possible of course sorta why I brought up the coyote thing. One of my state's wildlife specialist said this about coyotes "People always talk about how if there’s a nuclear war or whatever, there’s going to be cockroaches and rats left. … I always throw coyotes into that,” “They’ve survived as much persecution as any animal on the face of the earth, and they’ve just expanded in the face of it." so I know sometimes it's hard to come up with any solution that will actually work to lower the population of a species of wildlife that has been deemed invasive or over abundant in a negative way.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We’ve always had wild turkeys (in the land of the Pilgrims, after all), but their numbers have increased over the years, and I’ve noticed them doing things I never saw them do before. Like going up on my roof, or flocks of them jumping/flying over six foot fences and hanging out in yards, etc. The other day I had about ten or so in my front yard, and later I saw some of the Toms with full feathers up walking in front of cars on the street (who went around them). I‘ve personally never had any problem with them. But this got me to thinking, what’s the worst that could happen?

This is sort of interesting if you want to put the time in.

We happen to havre a high coyote population, as well, and I suspect that is probably what keeps these turkeys in check. The other day I saw what looked like large prints that looked like dog prints in the snow in my yard. Lots of them. The next night we heard a pack of coyotes right outside. So essentially in the same places as the turkeys - there, and all around the neighborhood. Truthfully I’m more wary of them than the turkeys.

I vote for killing the turkeys and serving them for Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless, assuming that they aren't diseased. They aren't native to the area and are causing major problems. Remember, birds are evolved dinosaurs.

I have no personal experience eating wild turkey, but a hunting friend does, and I am told that it has a very gamey taste; not like store bought turkeys. I think it’s a good idea. I just don’t know if everyone would like it.