It's the turkey invasion

News from New York State brings us a bizarre story: an invasion by hundreds of wild turkeys which are pestering residents on Staten Island. Scientists are baffled by behaviour which is becoming more and more aggressive. Two weeks before Thanksgiving Day, the turkey strikes first.

The turkeys in question are wild and for some reason they have been coming out of the wilderness and have started invading the streets and houses of Staten Island, New York region. So numerous are these pests, that one resident collected eight bags of excrement and discarded feathers (weighing 50 kilograms) and presented them to the authorities.

Local sources indicate that the worst affected zones are Dongan Hills and South Beach, with around one hundred unwanted visitors in each. Apart from the obvious nuisance of dirtying streets and yards, the birds consume plants, trash gardens and make a noise, disturbing residents during the night. Yet a more sinister trait has been observed: the turkeys are becoming increasingly aggressive and have been documented in incidents attacking children in parks and stealing food from their hands.

The local authorities suggested that the residents start frightening the turkeys away by turning their hosepipes on them. Nothing has worked so far.

Could it be that a few weeks before Thanksgiving and in the month before Christmas (when turkeys are killed in their millions) the bird is giving us a message? Or could it be that they know they cannot be hunted within the city limits? Who said the turkey is stupid?

Timofei Belov

Pravda.Ru