SALT LAKE CITY — Residents of a Massachusetts town close to Boston are expressing fear of “extremely scary” wild turkeys in the area, CBS Boston reports.
Kathy Milmoe, who lives in Jamaica Plain just outside of Boston, said she has seen aggressive turkeys in the area.
“It’s extremely scary. It’s frightening. If you’re walking they come up extremely, extremely close to you and they come forward like they’re going to bite you,” she said, according to CBS.
Milmoe said her husband has gone outside with a broom and a rake to brush turkeys away from people walking by their house.
There are reportedly three different wild turkeys in the area causing problems for those living in that part of Massachusetts.
Dorothy Sergi told CBS Boston that she saw her mailman cornered by the aggressive turkeys, who were pecking away at him.
Boston Animal Control told CBSthat they normally don’t deal with wild turkeys. That said, the state has now given the agency the rights to take them on.
What’s interesting here is that wild turkeys consistently peck their way through Boston. According to The Associated Press, interactions with wild turkeys increase from March to May, which is breeding time for the animals.
In 2017, a group of wild turkeys stormed the area, clashing with residents, destroying gardens, chasing away pets and attacking people, according to WBUR, a radio station in Boston.
In fact, Boston city officials said they received at least 60 complaints about wild turkeys in 2016, which was three times as many as they received in 2015, WBUR reports.
"Several years ago it was more of an isolated situation here and there," said David Scarpitti, the wild turkey and upland game biologist for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, according to WBUR. "Now it's starting to spread into communities all around Boston."
MassWildlife told The Associated Press that the public should avoid feeding the turkeys. They suggested that people scare them away with loud noises or water sprayed from a hose.