Residents of Quebec town running scared as turkeys take to streets

Élaine Mineau was visiting her mother in Louiseville, Que., on Tuesday when she looked out the window to see a man having an altercation with an aggressive turkey.

She whipped out her phone to capture the gobbler chasing the man around a car and up the road — in a video that has since been shared widely on Facebook.

She says the man in the video managed to escape, but it's one of several recent incidents of turkey trouble that the town of about 5,000 has been dealing with.

"I was laughing but of course it's a bit dangerous because wild turkeys have big claws. But in any case, we found it funny," chuckled Mineau.

"My laughter is contagious in the video, so I guess it makes a lot of people laugh."

The birds is one of half a dozen turkeys which began "circling" the town, located 160 kilometres southwest of Quebec City, a few weeks ago, says Mayor Yvon Deshaies.

'I took this seriously,' says mayor

Now that residents in town are getting chased, he says it's no laughing matter.

"I took this seriously," said Deshaies. "I wasn't laughing when it became clear that people were being forced to run … It's not a hen, nor is it a rooster — it's very big."

He says there have been four or five attacks in town with no serious injuries — yet.

"We worry about kids, we worry for everyone. A turkey, you know how big it is, it ruffles its feathers, it's very nasty and then it has razor sharp claws," said Deshaies.

"We have kids who don't want to go outside … That's not normal."

This morning he asked the province's Wildlife Ministry for help but Deshaies says they haven't shown up yet. He said he had hoped for more support to avoid the situation getting worse.

"That's the problem we're facing right now," said Deshaies.

"I told him, 'Sir, that's enough, we've got to get a move on, because tomorrow, my ultimatum is: there's going to be someone who can come and who will take care of the turkeys that are in the downtown area."

Mating season came early this year due to warm weather, says expert 

Tadeusz Splawinski, a biologist and researcher at the Canadian Wild Turkey Federation, says the big birds can pack a punch.

"If you ever watch videos of turkeys fighting, they're like roosters. They'll jump with their legs out forward at the bird and kind of like in a chopping motion," said Splawinski. "So they're actually trying to rip and stab at the other bird."

He says turkeys' breeding season is typically governed by temperature and sunlight. This year, because of warmer temperatures, it started early once again.

"They have a pecking order established. So essentially, they become more aggressive during the mating season. They're pretty much driven to go out and find hens to mate with and anything that they consider to be competition, they can become aggressive toward," said Splawinski.

"With humans, essentially, if you for example get attacked by one of these things, you run away, they see you as lower on the pecking order. They see you as someone they can dominate."

He says male turkeys' behaviour is governed by hormones, making them particularly aggressive this time of year — even sometimes attacking mirrors or reflections of themselves.

Over the past five years more and more wild turkeys have been spotted in cities and Splawinski says their numbers have grown partly because they have no natural predators. He says exposure to humans also makes the birds less likely to see them as a threat.

Mayor Yvon Deshaies said provincial police came into town, but "it's not in their domain because they can't shoot [them]."

"I'm going to make a special law if necessary," said Deshaies. "Turkeys don't make the laws here in Louiseville."

The Wildlife Ministry did not provide a response to CBC regarding its plans.