Wild turkeys in Berkeley, California (MediaNews Group/East Bay Times)
For months, postmen in Sacramento County, an Arden Arcade enclave, have been terrorized by wild turkeys, disrupting deliveries at times.
Tensions between the bird and a US Postal Service employee came to a head this week when a carrier killed a turkey in the line of duty, officials said, sparking an investigation by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“On Monday, one of the postmen actually had some kind of stick or something in the car,” said Capt. Patrick Foy, a spokesman for the department’s law enforcement division. “And when one of the particularly aggressive male turkeys attacked him, he hit him and killed him.”
Foy declined to say what the violation could be, but said that as of Thursday evening, the department had not yet issued certificates.
“Our job is to determine exactly what happened and then make a report,” he said. “We can send it to the DA and the DA will decide if a crime was committed.”
The Postal Service said it was investigating the incident, noting in a statement that employees “had several altercations with aggressive turkeys in the area, including a recent attack on a postman.”
“We are working with the Department of Fish and Wildlife to mitigate the issue,” the USPS said. “However, this statement is alarming, and if true, it is unforgivable and does not reflect the efforts of our more than 650,000 employees who faithfully serve and benefit America every day.”
So far, an investigation into the incident by the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife has unearthed bizarre details about the area’s turkeys and their behavior and handling.
Investigators found that some residents were feeding the turkeys “lots of food,” which is illegal in California and may have been a factor in the birds’ aggressiveness.
The story goes on
“This likely contributed to the sheer size of the turkey in question because it ate an unlimited amount of food each day from that particular home,” Foy said. “We see this issue as a major contributing factor to this overall problem.”
Turkeys seem to have been chasing delivery workers in the neighborhood since October, when the postal service began reporting the situation to wildlife. Foy said the attacks also disrupted shipping from FedEx, UPS and other carriers.
According to Foy, turkey attacks on humans are rare, but are most often associated with mating season in April, so “it really didn’t make sense that … they would be so aggressive back in October.”
A wildlife officer and a biologist sent to examine the reports saw a group of four turkeys attack a postman.
“He swung at them with his mail bag, trying to fight back,” Foy said.
Foy said the department told mail carriers they were allowed to defend themselves and suggested using the pepper spray that postal workers are allowed to carry.
“They said, ‘Yes, we sprayed them with pepper spray. We waved mailbags at them. We kicked them and they are still attacking,” Foy said.
Wildlife officials then tried to catch the most aggressive birds, but failed.
After a temporary reprieve, the birds have resumed their attacks in the past few weeks and the postal service has contacted wildlife again.
Foy said the turkey he killed on Monday was the heaviest he had ever lifted.
“I’ve been here for about 25 years, so I know turkeys,” he said. “And I just looked at it and thought, ‘Oh, that’s the biggest turkey I’ve ever seen.’ “
Even more bizarre was the fact that the birds seemed to relieve the area’s residents and delivery workers of their anger.
“I can’t explain it, but the aggressive turkeys don’t seem to care at all about the inhabitants of this settlement,” Foy said. “I looked myself.
“I approached the turkeys myself and they wanted nothing to do with me,” he said. “But when that postman pulled up, they immediately went on the offensive.”
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.