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Aggressive wild turkey has eluded animal control Blaine
By: AP
BLAINE, Minn. (AP) -- Police in Blaine have received numerous calls about a wild turkey that has been strutting its stuff along Cloverleaf Parkway since the spring.
This brazen bird has eluded animal control, delighted senior citizens, annoyed police and mail carriers, and frightened schoolchildren.
"It went after elementary kids at a bus stop, and it doesn't scare away," said Police Chief Dave Johnson.
One day, one of Johnson's officers called to report that the turkey had trapped him in his squad car.
"The turkey was coming after him," Johnson said. "He turned the siren on and said the bird wouldn't scare away. Before he could get out, the turkey was pecking at his car. He finally opened the door and took a run at it and got the turkey to move."
Many senior citizens in a nearby apartment complex enjoy watching the bird, and some chat with it on their daily walks.
"He prances around and stands out here and gobbles as the cars go by," said resident Dorala Christensen, 73. She said the bird pecked at tires on a car after the driver honked at him. "They yelled at him out the window. That made him mad," she said. The turkey also regularly pecks a U.S. Postal Service truck.
"He means no harm," she said. "I'd hate to see him be killed. I'd miss him."
Wild turkeys are protected by the state Department of Natural Resources. Bill Penning, with the DNR, said turkeys were native to Minnesota but settlers killed them off in the 1800s. The birds were reintroduced to southeastern Minnesota in the 1970s.
Now there are about 60,000 wild turkeys statewide, with at least a few thousand in the metro area, he said. Most wild turkeys can be scared off by shouting, shooing with a broom, spraying with a hose or putting a dog in the area.
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