Stop feeding turkeys
chatnoir
Stop feeding turkeys
KEARNEY — Stop feeding the turkeys.
That’s the message Wildlife Biologist Bob Meduna of Kearney said the
Game and Parks Commission wants to spread.
“There are birds living in town right now because people are feeding
and keeping them here,” Meduna said.
He said the birds can be a traffic hazard and attack people. In an
instance last week, a bird that attacked a boy had to be destroyed.
“There’s a flock up in the north part of town of about 15 to 20 birds,
and they’ve been there for a couple of years. Little by little, we’ve
been trying to get rid of them, but we’re not having a whole lot of
luck. If we can get people to quit feeding them, that’s the biggest
issue.”
Meduna said the birds wander into town accidentally and stay when
friendly humans start leaving feed and bird seed for them.
“Turkeys get tame when they’re being fed, and once they’re tame they
become very aggressive,” he said. “That aggression does not happen
when they’re in the wild. If you’re walking along the river or in the
wild someplace, they’re not going to come up and attack you.”
Turkey attacks are more common in town, based on the number of calls
he receives, Meduna said. “They’ll attack kids and paper carriers.
Sometimes, they’ll even attack adults. They become very aggressive and
will fly up in a person’s face and attack with their wings.”
Game and Parks officials are called to turkey-related incidents two or
three times every month, Meduna said. They try to trap the birds and
release them back into the wild.
“It doesn’t always work to trap them, and we’ve probably shot about 15
in the last year in town that were causing problems. One just last
week was attacking a guy’s grandson, and it wouldn’t leave so we had
to remove it by shooting it,” he said.
Meduna said turkeys can become a nuisance by leaving droppings on
driveways and decks, damaging shingles when they roost on roofs or
scratching paint when they fly on top of vehicles.
Earlier this year, a wild turkey flew through a large window at the
University of Nebraska at Kearney and caused several hundred dollars
in damage. A few years ago, a turkey had to be removed from a woman’s
home.
“Another issue is they’re a wild animal, and it’s a show of, to me, a
show of disrespect to that species by taming them down and having them
live in town,” Meduna said. “Sure, they’re fun to watch, but once they
become tame they can be a real nuisance.”