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

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

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.
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.

This was from the spokesperson for the investigating entity (the CDFW):

“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.

Additionally he reported that it was known that the turkeys were attacking delivery and mail carriers. So while I understand that they want to investigate if excessive force was used, it seems to me that the assumption should be the mail carrier was defending himself, and without anyone claiming otherwise, that there isn’t a good reason to spend resources investigating.

But I get it. There are undoubtedly people who wouldn’t be happy unless it’s fully ruled out that the poor turkey wasn’t assaulted by a homicidal postal worker!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

that there isn’t a good reason to spend resources investigating.

It's entirely dependent on what the possible charges are. I highly doubt on an average day the death of a turkey (even one presumed to be aggressive) tantamount an investigation so I'm going to go with there's a reason why an investigation was even started. USPS can do whatever they want to their employee (well you know within reasons of the law) but for the Department of Fish and Wildlife to be involved with an investigation to see if criminal charges are warranted there's more than a simple dude defending himself against homicidal wild turkeys like an open and shut case.

As for the quote you put in..yes I know about it..I quoted it in a prior comment.

Right now the potential charges even possible in a situation like this have not been disclosed. You may think it's silly to investigate but sometimes that's just what game wardens do as part of their jobs

 

[bcla]

It's entirely dependent on what the possible charges are. I highly doubt on an average day the death of a turkey (even one presumed to be aggressive) tantamount an investigation so I'm going to go with there's a reason why an investigation was even started. USPS can do whatever they want to their employee (well you know within reasons of the law) but for the Department of Fish and Wildlife to be involved with an investigation to see if criminal charges are warranted there's more than a simple dude defending himself against homicidal wild turkeys like an open and shut case.

As for the quote you put in..yes I know about it..I quoted it in a prior comment.

Right now the potential charges even possible in a situation like this have not been disclosed. You may think it's silly to investigate but sometimes that's just what game wardens do as part of their jobs

I think DFW want to investigate because they are concerned with the possibility of aggressive wildlife as well as possibly not reporting the taking of a game animal. I'm not quite sure what the rules are though. I mean - I've run over my fair share of squirrels but I don't believe that needs to be reported.

There have been cases where people intentionally ran down turkeys. And absolutely they don't really have anything better to do. They are technically state peace officers, but they have specific jobs to do that revolve around wildlife and poaching. I remember hearing about one case involving offering for sale illegal animal pelts/leather. They were all really old, but there was no exception made for vintage articles.

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Probation-for-SF-vintage-clothier-who-sold-12439661.php​

But early last year, two Department of Fish and Wildlife wardens went undercover and said they tried on a jaguar coat and an ocelot coat, priced at $4,500 and $850, respectively. Two weeks later, agents served a search warrant at Decades of Fashion and seized a haul of clothes and accessories.​

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My guess would be that questions arising about this hedge on whether this was a “hit with a stick in self-defense”, or a “beating to death”. The article mentions both, but we don’t have any details.

There are a lot of angry people and strong emotions out there right now.

I have seen other cases where people were charged with animal cruelty because they beat a duck to death or things like that. This case involves a postal worker doing their job. It should be interesting to see how things proceed.

ETA From the Animal Legal Defense Fund:

”Under California law, any person convicted of maliciously and intentionally wounding an animal can be imprisoned for up to three years in county jail and/or fined $20,000 for felony animal cruelty. In California, it is at the district attorney’s discretion whether animal cruelty is charged as a felony.”

 

[Disneytrippin']

I am a route driver in Idaho. There are turkeys everywhere, even in town on busy streets. I covered a route for a coworker whose route is in the country. On his route I had to wait for (NO LIE) at least 100 turkeys to cross in front of me. They stop traffic all the time. I have a video of a Tom fanning his feathers and having a stand off with my truck. These turkeys are real a-holes.

 

[bcla]

I am a route driver in Idaho. There are turkeys everywhere, even in town on busy streets. I covered a route for a coworker whose route is in the country. On his route I had to wait for (NO LIE) at least 100 turkeys to cross in front of me. They stop traffic all the time. I have a video of a Tom fanning his feathers and having a stand off with my truck. These turkeys are real a-holes.

I've seen that, but honestly I've never seen any aggression, even by large toms. I've never been chased by one and have never seen one chasing or pecking at a car. I remember passing by them on the street and just stopping waiting for them to get off the road. That's perhaps the most annoying thing about them.

 

[Disneytrippin']

I've seen that, but honestly I've never seen any aggression, even by large toms. I've never been chased by one and have never seen one chasing or pecking at a car. I remember passing by them on the street and just stopping waiting for them to get off the road. That's perhaps the most annoying thing about them.

The toms do get aggressive if you are walking near them.

 

[bcla]

The toms do get aggressive if you are walking near them.

Maybe not in the Sacramento area, but around my particular area they seem to be really calm around humans. I've seen them in a parking lot just hanging out and they weren't bothering anyone other than maybe blocking the way if someone was looking to walk around them. I've pumped gas with a few just 10 feet away and they don't seem to care. I've gone hiking in a regional park where they've found a lot of food sources and don't really worry about them. I have seen some hang around a demonstration farm though, although the workers try to keep them from eating the animal feed. They're not all that bad compared to Canada geese. Now those things can be nasty, leaving their half-digested droppings everywhere, the noise, and their general antisocial nature.

But the turkeys are mostly just an annoyance.

 

[Mysterian]

The mailman was only doing his duty. If we don't act, then Dinosaurs will retake the planet.

Here's a theoretical depiction of what dinosaurs will look like once further evolved.
(Not the man in the mustache, that's not a Dinosaur, it's a Nerd.)

 

[Kennywood]

Where's Mr. Carlson when you need him?

 

[Colleen27]

Turkeys are vicious animals. My husband had one charge his truck once, on his way to a rural job - ran smack into the side of a moving vehicle, wings spread, making a crazy racket. I had an encounter with a small flock of them in a rather scary neighborhood in Detroit after dropping my brother off to a job site, and I was actually bumper tapping the stupid things to try to get them out of the street so I could leave this block where drug deals were very obviously happening in plain sight (which made me feel *really* uncomfortable with being stopped/creeping at a snail's pace down the street!). And even with a whole minivan trying to nudge them out of the way, they didn't back down. They just puffed up and postured and continued blocking the road. If I were a mail carrier in a place with turkeys, I'd probably carry a stick/club just in case too!

We've got more coyotes now than we did back then, both out here in the boonies and in the city/suburbs, which brings its own set of problems but does keep the turkey population down. And the coyotes don't mess with people; they're at least shy/properly scared of humans, even if they are a menace to pets and backyard chicken flocks.

 

[tcufrog]

We've got more coyotes now than we did back then, both out here in the boonies and in the city/suburbs, which brings its own set of problems but does keep the turkey population down. And the coyotes don't mess with people; they're at least shy/properly scared of humans, even if they are a menace to pets and backyard chicken flocks.

We used to live in a rural enclave in the middle of a large city. We lived 10 minutes from a Super Target but a lot of our surrounding neighbors had horses and would ride them on the streets. One of our neighbors also had cattle. We saw lots of birds of prey (We even had a bald eagle in our backyard for a while) and we knew we had coyotes. We knew it was spring when the neighborhood roadrunner appeared. It was our personal groundhog day. When we got our first dog, we didn't allow it to go out alone until she was full grown because we were worried she would get carried off.

One of our neighbors stupidly allowed her cat to roam the neighborhood. One day, their cat never returned. Another neighbor later found the cat's collar. Their other cat still roams free but he's huge and scary. He loves our younger son and regularly comes to visit him. He will even walk with son around the neighborhood. Our dogs are afraid of the cat though and I think he could give and predator a run for their money.

 

[mjkacmom]

We have wild turkeys here in our suburban/urban area, they are mean! My friend was rescued by a ups truck getting chased trying to get from the street to her front door.

 

[LuvOrlando]

How is this even a thing?