FOUNTAIN GREEN, Sanpete County — More than 1,200 turkeys were apparently clubbed to death by a group of several people who left a wide trail of footprints behind.
Jason Sunderland, who keeps about 190,000 turkeys on his farm, said he walked into one of his sheds Sunday and found about a third of the turkeys there had been killed. It was a gruesome scene with blood everywhere, he said.
"You can't imagine the shock of walking in and seeing a thousand slaughtered turkeys spread all over the coop," he said. "We're all in shock. I think other turkey farmers are worried, also."
The incident apparently happened Saturday night but wasn't reported until the next day, according to the the Sanpete County Sheriff's Department.
"I don't think anyone in their right mind could do this kind of thing," said Kathy Jo Sunderland, who helps her husband with the farm. "It makes it easier to believe if you think someone was drunk or loaded on drugs and just went crazy."
Sheriff's deputy Kenny Kirkham said that same night several live turkeys were let loose in a dormitory at Snow College in Ephraim, about 35 miles from the farm where the turkeys were killed. He said the Ephraim and Snow College police departments are investigating whether the two incidents are connected.
Sunderland said he found a swath of foot tracks across his property leading into the shed that hadn't been there the day before.
When Kirkham arrived, he found small tree branches in the shed that appeared to have been used as weapons.
"I think we're looking at more than one person," Kirkham said. But he added, "It's a hard case right now. We are getting phone calls, and we're checking them out. But so far, they've all been dead ends."
Sunderland said 1,198 turkeys were dead when he discovered the mayhem. Another 200 to 300 were severely injured and probably will not survive.
Turkeys are bred to gain maximum weight relative to the size of their hearts. The birds cannot handle much stress. Sunderland said he expected other birds to die of heart attacks stemming from the stress they went through during the attack.
George Dyches, manager of the Moroni Feed processing plant, where turkeys from about 60 farms in Sanpete County are processed, said the market value of the 1,500 turkeys the Sunderlands expect to lose is about $22,000.
E-mail: sdean@manti.com