Aggressive Turkey

You’ve heard of confrontations between mailmen and dogs—but a confrontation between a mailman and a turkey is raising eyebrows. I’m Amy E. Feldman.

California authorities are trying to determine if it was self defense when a mail carrier beat an aggressive wild turkey to death. A Sacramento-area mail carrier was accosted by an aggressive turkey so he went back to his truck, retrieved a pole, and put an end to the turkey. Both wildlife and postal authorities are investigating, but it raises the legal question: if it’s legal to hunt and kill turkeys, why would this be illegal? 

Well, federal and local laws cover the hunting of species to ensure that there is no overhunting, and that hunted animals don’t experience unnecessary cruelty.  In this case, the turkey wasn’t hunted, it was beaten, raising questions about cruelty. That said, given that groups of aggressive wild turkeys are known to surround people in Sacramento, it might be hard to find much sympathy for the turkey.