A wild turkey is terrorizing Washington, D.C., residents with no end in sight, and authorities can’t seem to track down the vigilante bird.
For months, residents of the DMV area have lived in fear of the elusive, irritable male turkey, which likes to harass visitors of the Anacostia River Walk Trail near the D.C.-Maryland border.
Cliff Robinson, 70, said the turkey attacked him on the trail recently, per The Wall Street Journal.
“I was trying to get away from him and he came after me,” Robinson said. “He wouldn’t let me pass.”
A second resident, Liz Poulette, said she faced the turkey terror, as well. She ended up in urgent care with puncture wounds, which required a tetanus shot and antibiotics because of the attack.
“When it was a few feet away, suddenly it jumped at me,” she said. “Like some cartoon, I had to use my purse to beat it back.”
DeDe Folarin, a D.C. resident familiar with the turkey, shared a video of the animal harassing a cyclist not long ago. In the video, the cyclist timidly holds up her bike to fend off the bird.
The terrible turkey of Washington, D.C., is becoming an urban legend
“Can you help?” the cyclist yells to Folarin. “I’m coming now!” Folarin responds in the video. He said he also faced an attack from the bird, himself.
“It was a scary situation,” Folarin said. “Just riding along the path, this gigantic turkey just jumps up towards my face, almost knocked me off my bike, then proceeded to chase me around for five minutes.”
The string of attacks led authorities to post new signs around the area reminding guests to avoid approaching wildlife — though it seems the turkey is the aggressor in each instance. Dan Rauch with the Department of Energy and Environment told D.C. media that more than 100 wild turkeys live throughout the city; but that he believes just one male is responsible for the attacks.
“Some people don’t listen,” Victor Davila of the Prince George Parks Department said. “They try to go up to it and take pictures and stuff like that.”
“There is an element of humor to it,” Dan Rauch, a D.C. Department of Energy and Environment outdoor biologist trying to catch the bird, told The Wall Street Journal. “There is a terror turkey stalking a river trail. If I hadn’t seen the videos myself, I would have thought it was an urban myth.”
Like a dangerous prisoner on the run, the turkey likely slipped across state lines recently, authorities believe. So now, the burden falls on multiple wildlife and resource agencies to catch the menacing fowl. The D.C.’s Department of Energy, Prince George’s County Parks and Recreation Department, and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources all want to catch the offending turkey.
