Turkeys invade Staten Island (Gobble, gobble!)

CNN ^ | 11/10/2010 | n/a

[Pyro7480]

Thanksgiving may be two weeks away, but every day is turkey day for a quiet section of New York City's Staten Island.

While some residents embrace the roughly 100 turkeys that live year around in the Ocean Breeze neighborhood on the island's southern shore, others find them a nuisance.

"It's a controversy because some people are upset by them and others love them," says Suzanne Mattei, regional director of the New York Department of Conservation in Staten Island.

Mattei said the turkeys first started showing up in 2000 after nine birds were released by a private citizen. Since then, they've multiplied -- ten-fold.

"They are not indigenous" she said. "They have feathering that indicate they have been mixed with domestic turkeys."

Many residents feed their feathered friends, keeping them healthy and able to reproduce.

"These turkeys are fat and they are very well fed; they are not living on roots and nuts," Mattei said.

But for Mike Budano, the birds are a fowl annoyance, as he is constantly shooing them off his front lawn.

"My grandchildren love them, but I just don't want them on the property making a mess," Mike Budano said.

To scare turkeys off their property, residents are encouraged by authorities to splash the birds with water from a hose.

[Pyro7480]

Video at link...

[RickB444]

They should jail the idiot who let the first ones go.

I don’t have a problem with wild turkeys, but domestic ones are ugly and should not be let free to roam around in peoples yards. They should round them up and kill them then use the meat to feed the homeless.

[Sacajaweau]

To scare them splash the birds with water...

or rub with butter and bake at 350 degrees.

[moovova]

"It's a helicopter, and it's coming this way. It's flying something behind it, I can't quite make it out, it's a large banner and it says, uh - Happy... Thaaaaanksss... giving! ... From ... W ... K ... R... P!! No parachutes yet. Can't be skydivers... I can't tell just yet what they are, but - Oh my God, Johnny, they're turkeys!! Johnny, can you get this? Oh, they're plunging to the earth right in front of our eyes! One just went through the windshield of a parked car! Oh, the humanity! The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement! Not since the Hindenburg tragedy has there been anything like this!"

"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!!!" -- Arthur Carlson, WKRP in Cincinnati.

[Cicero]

Thanksgiving is nigh.

[TexasPatriot1]

As a Population Control Specialist, I will volunteer my services to aid the City of New York.

[Waverunner]

When I think of Staten Island, I certainly think of Turkeys

[vaudine]

Invade?...I thought the turkeys occupied all of NY long ago.

vaudine

[RickB444]

Not sure about turkeys but I know NY is full of chickens and asses.

[EQAndyBuzz]

Funniest line from the funniest episode in the history of sitcoms.