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Turkeys are the gremlins of the animal world: Don't feed them after midnight, or ever

Channel 4 reports Mt. Auburn Cemetery had to bring in somebody to shoot one of the turkeys that have made a home there after it attacked a worker, sending him to the hospital.

Cemetery officials say well meaning but clueless visitors are partly to blame; it seems the more people feed turkeys, the more aggressive they get toward people.

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Comments

Is the cemetery a place people go to feed the birds? I know it's a nice cemetery but I wouldn't be going out and feeding the wild turkeys on a random stroll through it.

Peterborough
http://www.bostontipster.com

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Maybe this is an exception - but my friend in NY basically adopted a couple of turkeys a few years ago feeding them when they come to the yard (which is almost every morning). Last year they had babies and now the whole family stops by for a snack and I've seen her standing in the middle of the family tossing food out and while the siblings will nip at each other to get the food, they never go after her or act aggressively toward her even if she doesn't have food at that moment.

Based on the turkey posts you read here there's a small subset of turkeys that seems to know what we do to their domestic cousins on Thanksgiving and they are naturally out for revenge. The rest just go with the flow and are happy for the occasional handout.

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but not enough to shoot and kill in my opinion.

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can get very territorial once they reach puberty, and they also have a nasty talon like claws that can do some real damage. They're not afraid to jump and go for a neck or face. It's very, very rare, but they could even kill you if they stick you in the right spot on the neck, but it's very unlikely and would a freak sort of thing.

Geese can be the same way, but you don't have to worry about claws.

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...Not feeding them. Not saying I would recommend getting near them and my friend probably shouldn't be feeding the wild animals - but hey - we put out birdseed.

Just saying - I don't tbink feeding them in and of itself turns them into Avian Chuckies which anyone who reads Uhub knows exist in these parts.

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One of the turkeys shot and killed was named Longfellow and he was a longtime resident at the cemetery. He was named by nature watchers at the cemetery...This place has an abundance of lovely wildlife who make their home there. Longfellow was protecting young turkeys when he scratched a gardener in the cemetery.
Shooting him certainly wasn't warranted, in my opinion. It's not like Longfellow was deadly or anything - geesh. Killing the turkeys was cruel.

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Look, I'm hardly a bird lover or anything, but I'm pretty sure there are these things called "traps" that catch big ground birds like turkeys and allow you to release them somewhere else to call home if you don't like them where they are. What in the hell was the point of bringing someone in to shoot it for??

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