Can Staten Island learn to love its nuisance wild turkeys?

The New York borough’s birds have been known to ruffle feathers, but some residents say they’re simply part of life

A decades-long feud between the people of New York’s Staten Island and a flock of wild turkeys appears no closer to ending. The birds have been called a “nuisance” and a “safety issue”. A resident has even filed a lawsuit which claimed the turkeys caused her to injure her shoulder.

Hundreds of wild turkeys live in Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of New York City, with many of them being traced to a woman unleashing her pet birds in 1999. Standing 3ft tall and with a top running speed of 25mph, wild turkeys have been known to stand in the way of traffic and sometimes peck at pedestrians.

Aside from prompting litigation, the birds have been known to irritate motorists. In 2022, footage of a local man shouting “Get the fuck out of here” at a turkey went viral, while there have been reports of the birds scratching cars and defecating at will.

Despite this, many Staten Islanders appear to have warmed to the turkeys. One flock are well-known to patrol the Staten Island University hospital, among other areas.

When the Guardian visited the location on Thursday, 15 of the birds were standing across the road from the hospital’s emergency entrance. Some of the birds sat motionless, while others were plucking at their brown-grey feathers. One particularly large turkey was standing erect, with its rear feathers raised and blue head thrust back.

For all the claims of aggression, the rafter of turkeys appeared relaxed. Several walks past the birds, conducted at varying speeds, did not seem to rile them – nor did the sound of the “duck” iPhone ringtone.

Fran Avila, who works at the hospital, admitted to being startled by the turkeys in the past.

“I’ve only been working over here about nine months. So when I first came, I came in the dark. And they’re all in the trees. And I’ve looked up and I was like: ‘What?’ I thought they were vultures,” she said.

But Avila said the birds had “never bothered” her, and that the only problem with them was the fecal matter they leave behind. She said it looked like “small dog poo”. The Guardian inspected the area and found a small amount of turkey droppings, as well as four feathers and 75¢.

Avila had not noticed anyone being intimidated by the turkeys. “Nobody seems to care. I mean, the people that live here are used to it.”

Some people are unhappy with the birds, however.

Last year, a woman unsuccessfully sued Staten Island University hospital alleging that her fear of turkeys, and dangerous conditions outside the hospital, led her to fall over and hurt herself. Others have branded the birds a “nuisance”.

“I, myself, have been cleaning up and hosing down copious quantities of bird droppings, which is more than a nuisance and expense, but a public health hazard,” local resident Ed Kesich told the Staten Island Advance this month.

Kesich said the birds had begun perching in trees near his home. He also claimed to have observed a “near-miss car accident” involving a turkey. New York City officials, he said, ignored his complaints.

“No other civilized place in the world would tolerate such wanton dereliction of duty,” Kesich said.

The wild turkey is native to North America, but it almost went extinct in the US in the early 20th century from overhunting. Since then, conservation efforts have led to a population boom, with 7 million nationwide and an estimated 20,000 in New Jersey.

As their numbers have grown, wild turkeys have sometimes clashed with humans, particularly in the north-east. Reports of vicious pecking, loud gobbling and even kicking have become increasingly common, as turkeys stake their claim to parks, front yards and even roads.

The boom in the Staten Island turkey population can be traced to 1999, the Staten Island Advance reported, when an unnamed woman released nine pet turkeys at the South Beach Psychiatric Center, close to the hospital.

Since then, the number of turkeys has climbed into the hundreds. Previous efforts to remove the birds have included capturing turkeys and escorting them to animal sanctuaries and, more controversially, slaughtering them en masse and handing out the meat to food pantries. As both those things cost money, “turkey funding dried up and the population slowly rebounded” when the Covid pandemic hit, Hell Gate reported.

While some residents remain unhappy, local government enthusiasm to remove the birds has since diminished. Officials held a “wildlife summit” in 2022 to come up with a plan for the birds. Local councilman David Carr stated at the time that there was “definitely a reason to try and manage the population”, according to Staten Island Advance. No conclusions from the summit appear to have been published and the plan seems to be: leave them alone.

“Wild turkeys are one of the many native species that call our city home. If you spot a wild turkey, don’t be intimidated – just keep your distance and observe respectfully,” Gregg McQueen, a spokesman for the city parks department, told the Guardian.

The parks department offered some “tips for coexisting with turkeys”, including “Do not feed turkeys” and “Do not let wild turkeys intimidate you”.

“Turkeys may attempt to demonstrate their dominance over people from time to time by acting bold and confrontational. You may be able to prevent this behavior by scaring or threatening a turkey with big gestures and loud noises,” the parks department guidance said.

The New York state department of environmental conservation said the “primary tool” for dealing with the turkey issue is “informing the public about how they can coexist with wildlife and minimize the chance that conflicts occur” meaning, essentially, the turkeys are here, and they’re not going anywhere.

That’s fine, said Adam Sherif, who owns the High End convenience store on Hylan Boulevard, a block’s waddle from the hospital.

Sherif said he has observed the turkeys causing a problem when they cross the street in front of the hospital, but most people “show respect” to the birds.

“If not, they start yelling at you and they stop screaming at you. You cannot beep at them or nothing,” he said. “They don’t like that. They’re going to beep back at you, and they are loud.”

Sherif added that the turkeys have never come into his store, which stocks an array of vaping and smoking products. But sometimes the birds congregate in a parking lot to the rear, and from that position they have been known to scare people.

“They hide in the dark. And late at night you might find them waiting somewhere, you look, you see something big [hiding there] and you will jump,” Sherif said.

He suggested that people unhappy with the turkeys should simply leave the area.

“The turkeys are fun. It’s part of life,” he said. “You cannot just execute a part of life for some people who don’t like it. The earth is big. Move, you’re not a tree.”

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