Frieda Dweck has taken her ongoing battle with the wild turkeys of Newton to a new level. Night after night, she arms herself with a tennis racket and balls before heading outside to shoo the big birds out of the trees surrounding her home.
“I have a serious problem with turkey poop on my car, on my house, in my yard,” Dweck told state wildlife experts at a forum this week on the increasingly common conflicts with wildlife in suburbia. “It’s getting frustrating to have to do that every night.”
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These are the same people who would complain that someone killed bambi, or the poor turkey but when the wildlife ends up on their lawn it is an awful thing.
People need to be educated more about wildlife.
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I live a bit further out from the Newton area and we have wild turkeys as well. I have never heard of wild turkeys attacking people - not even young children. They tend to be fairly nervous animals. Now a gaggle of Geese - that would be different - they can be very aggressive. Coyotes tend to be shy as well - unless hungary. Cover your compost pile - if you have one, take down the bird feeders, put lids on your trash cans, etc. Take a deep breath - relax. Find out what attracts them to your yard and car - if you have a garage - put your car in the garage or get a cover for it. We have deer as well - and we have to work at keeping them from eating plants in the yard especially in the winter when food is scarce. I wish the coyotes would get the ground hog family that spends every summer circling our garden looking for a way to get in. And for heaven sake - keep your cats and dogs inside or in a fenced in yard outside.
Really good post. I used to let my cats go outside while I was home and thought I was supervising them. Now I would never do it - for a host of reasons. Keep your cats in and small dogs should not be allowed in the fenced yard alone if you have coyotes.
How's about bb and pellet guns? State bureaucrats just love playing nanny and dictating how people should live, but one has to ask whether they put up with the nuisance brought by coyotes and turkeys and Canadian geese at their own homes? Does Deeval the self-magnified national officeholder tolerate pesty wildlife at his Richmond estate?
Your comment is very cruel and inhumane. Interesting to see how people think.
There are very good reasons for -not- shooting a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling.
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Keep your cat indoors!
"But cats are wild animals and like to be outdoors..."
Yeah, killing birds. Cats are domesticated animals and can become problems if left to their own devices -- just like dogs can become part of a pack. And, of course, it's also dangerous for the cat. Do you let your children run around outdoors doing whatever they want?
If you value your cat, learn to change the litter box. If your cat isn't worth that, then don't own one.
My family has coastal ranches in northern California. No one in the area runs sheep any longer due to coyotes, which are protected. The sheep ranches had been in place since about 1860. Cattle ranching continues.
There's almost no market for domestic wool, and nobody eats mutton in this country. I'd say that's more likely the reason the sheep are gone.