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March 16, 2006

A Menace Most Fowl

"They came down the hill and followed us," she explained, recounting the frightening incident. "As I was walking faster, they'd walk faster."

"I heard a sound behind me -

"And then I felt the turkey's claw on my back."

So said Brookline resident Marianne Lee in a front-page story in the Brookline Tab entitled Turkeys on the Attack. Even though Brookline is surrounded on three sides by the urban jungle of Boston, we apparently have a turkey problem. Families of these sizeable birds are roaming the back streets of Brookline, emboldened by people who've taken to feeding them in recent years. Ever eager for edible handouts, they're now getting brazen and approaching people - and most people, it seems, do not like it.

Residents like Marianne Lee have complained to animal control but haven't produced any results. There's not much they can do, since the birds are endangered. About a year ago, though, I watched in wonder as a troupe of turkeys trotted across the street from our apartment. Eventually, an animal control officer drove by and dealt with them the only way he could - chasing them onto the roof of a church so they'd become someone else's problem.

Video of some Brookline turkeys strutting their stuff.

Posted by acarvin at March 16, 2006 6:10 PM

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