Wild turkeys baffle some Interior residents
Published Tuesday, July 15, 2008
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FAIRBANKS — At first, Tom Phillips thought his wife, Tuesday, had flown over the cuckoo’s nest when she called last week and told him there was a family of wild turkeys in their backyard.
“I thought she was nuts,” said Phillips, who was at work when his wife and 10-year-old daughter, Shannonn, left an excited message that they had seen wild turkeys in the yard of their Holmes Road home.
“I called them back and said, ‘No, you didn’t see any wild turkeys,’” Tom Phillips said.
After all, it’s a well-known fact that Alaska is the only state in the United States that does not have wild turkeys.
But when Tuesday told him how big the birds were and how they had flown up into some birch trees when Shannonn and her younger brother, Daeylen, had chased them, he started to wonder. When she showed him some pictures she had taken of the turkeys, he became even more intrigued. The adult sure looked like a wild turkey — brown and gray feathers, red head, long, dark, fan-shaped tail.
“The only turkeys I’ve seen are at the (Tanana Valley State) fair, and these don’t look like anything I’ve seen at the fair,” Tom Phillips said, referring to the white turkeys 4-H'ers raise and sell at the fair.
It wasn’t until he saw the birds with his own eyes Monday, however, that Tom Phillips was convinced his wife wasn’t seeing things.
“Wild turkeys,” Phillips confirmed. “There’s eight of them — one adult and eight little ones.
“We had to go into the garden and chase them out.”
Where the turkeys came from is anybody’s guess, but assistant area management biologist Tom Seaton at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Fairbanks speculates someone in the neighborhood is raising domesticated turkeys that resemble wild birds and they somehow got loose. More and more people are raising wild-turkey look-alikes as meat animals, he said.
“It’s real easy to get turkey chicks or eggs and hatch them out and raise them, just as you would with white turkeys,” Seaton said.
In past years, Seaton has fielded calls about “wild” chukars, pheasants and even a Hungarian partridge, none of which exist in the wild in Alaska but are raised domestically. The harsh climate and lack of food make it impossible for birds such as pheasants and turkeys to survive in Alaska, he said.
The Phillips have called around the neighborhood and nobody seems to have lost any wild-looking turkeys, though one of the neighbors reported spotting them.
“Everybody was saying, ‘There are no wild turkeys in Alaska,’” Tom Phillips said.
Likewise, officials at the borough animal shelter haven’t received any reports of wild-looking turkeys flying the coop, reported Matt Ruger, manager at Fairbanks North Star Borough Animal Control.
“We haven’t had anybody call and say they’re missing turkeys,” he said.
On Monday, the turkeys showed up at the Phillips’ home for the third time in the past week, heading straight for the family’s vegetable garden. The eight chicks, about the size of an adult spruce grouse, dutifully followed the large hen through the woods to the fence surrounding the small garden plot.
“They’re after the broccoli,” Tom Phillips said, watching the hen reach its neck inside the fence tearing at broccoli leaves. “They walked over everything else to get to the broccoli.
“We’ve been worried about moose eating the broccoli,” he said. “We weren’t prepared for turkeys to eat our broccoli.”
Tom Phillips called the Department of Fish and Game, which referred to him to the migratory bird division of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, where he left a message. He also called the Alaska Bird Observatory, but they wanted to see pictures of the birds.
Under state hunting regulations, turkeys are classified as feral, non-native game birds, according to Seaton. There is no limit or closed season on feral, non-native game birds.
“Technically, they are legal to take, but you might end up with some mad neighbors,” Seaton said.
The Phillips’ have no desire to kill the birds and have even thought about naming them.
“I like having them around,” Tuesday Phillips said.
The thought of reuniting them with their owner is a bittersweet one to Tom Phillips.
“You know what’s waiting for them in the end,” he said.
The fact that nothing has made a meal out of the birds yet is a surprise, Phillips said, given that they’ve been on the loose for at least a week.
“I’m just surprised something hasn’t gotten them yet,” he said.
Community Discussion
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while its a fun thing now to see the Turkeys wandering around... I am thinking about this coming winter. The family doesnt want to see the birds come to their known end.. however..which is worse? to see them end that way and feed someone or to see them freeze and starve to death? :(
As far as them belonging to anyone and them being mad if they were caught..as far as I am concerned..if the owners haven't bothered to look for them and they keep coming back to the family's yard.. they are free for the taking.
I'd say trap them in a Net covered pen with Broccoli in it and put them in a pen after they were wing clipped so they don't fly anymore.
That would be the most humane thing to do..and since she is coming back for the food.. now is the time to do it while she can be enticed to be trapped. Please do that for her and the young ones sake before Winter hits?
Kathy Olding
Those birds need to go back home or in the pot!! We can't handle another feral species taking over the indigenous species' habitats. That's why there's no bag limit or season. The bleeding hearts need to face reality, if they don't have a home, then they need to be destroyed.
This bird was probably bought at Alaska feed last summer or even before. Someone would've had to over winter it in a barn or garage. It could not survive otherwise. Alaskanlady, you obviously know nothing about game, wild or otherwise.
mmmmm mmmmmm good, with mashed potatoes and gravy..........
I saw wild turkey and automatically started thinking about chronic inebriates again.
I would like to help with the problem of feral turkeys destroying gardens.
*preheats oven*
I grew up in north pole, i was on my way hom from super value (yes, it used to be a super value in north pole).... and saw a turkey poking in and out of the grass along badger road near plack road... now these birds turn up... are you sure they aren't wild and trying to evolve here??
Well, guess it was bound to happen...GLOBAL WARMING. Next thing you know, Alaska will have snakes. Come to thing of it, Juneau has got a whole bunch of "turkeys" down there now and part of them are "snakes", too.
cor13, I may not know critters as you claim, but I do know people. And its going to be some bleeding heart to help them through their the winter by feeding them and allowing them to live in their garage or shed.
Ya know, I'm betting those youngins aren't all the same gender either, they could breed, now you've got your feral species growing in numbers.
Furthermore, look at our more mild than usual winters, they'd have to bed down for a while, but they're a resiliant bird, they could survive. We've had several species (not only animal) doing things out of the norm due to our weather patterns. But what do I know about animals!
Just because they came from the pet store, doesn't mean they've lost their instincts for survival.
Personally, throw them in the oven and help with everyone's financial strain. One less supper through the week, that could be a half a tank of gas (of course, that depends on your MPGs)
(tasty) Food for thought.
...please, I implore you all. We MUST protect the endangered wild turkey! Let's protect this evolving species in the interior and say no to oil & gas exploration. It's for the turkeys, we need your support.
lmao
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