Reports on NextDoor of an aggressive turkey attacking visitors to the Morcom Rose Garden, a popular local walking destination at 700 Jean Street, first surfaced last week, prompting the City of Oakland Animal Services division to temporarily close the park. The male turkey is apparently part of a family that has taken up residence in the park.
“Oakland’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Youth Development has temporarily closed the Morcom Rose Garden to provide some time and space to work to prevent human – wildlife conflicts. We understand there is a family of turkeys in the park and the male has become aggressive toward humans. We also understand that some humans have been feeding the birds regularly in the park.
Out of concern for the public safety and the turkeys’ well-being, Oakland Animal Services, working closely with the Parks Department, has contacted the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for guidance and support.
Following the State’s Keep Me Wild campaign, the City is asking people to please stay out of the park, to respect the prohibition against walking dogs in the park, and to never feed wildlife of any type. In the meanwhile, Oakland Animal Services will work with the Department of Fish and Wildlife on opportunities to help retrain the turkeys and will work to educate our residents.
As has been seen across the globe, the retreat of humans as they shelter in place has led to an increase in the visibility of wildlife in urban areas. The City of Oakland respects the rights of wild animals to inhabit their natural homes and encourages all Oaklanders to support the right of our wild residents to remain wild.
Learn more about helping wild turkeys here and take a look at a useful handout here.”
I am one of the many people who was injured by this male turkey. Not in the garden itself, but on my porch in the residential area that neighbors the garden. This turkey keeps being given extensions of 2-4 weeks at a time because the Fish and Wildlife Service does not want to relocate a “nuisance animal.” This bird is more than a nuisance; he is a liability. Just this weekend a woman had to be taken to the ER of our community crisis hospital due to an injury resulting from the bird chasing her down a stairway.
The bird might have been a regular wild animal at hatching, but was fed daily by a single well-meaning older woman (along with non-native fox squirrels and skunks), Ironically her affection for these animals backfired. Think the bears in Yosemite that become accustomed to eating human food until they have to be relocated or destroyed for the safety of human visitors.
Sentimental affection for this male turkey has reached absurd levels. The victims are not to be blamed for his mis-training by a confused individual, but that seems to be the current thread on Next Door. He has not “calmed down” as his devotees hoped. He is currently trying to recruit more hens to bear his offspring and definitely needs to be removed before another individual is harmed.
People reared on farms who live near the garden share Chief Orman’s opinion.
Turkeys are not native to California. They were imported for hunting. Where they are not hunted, their numbers expand rapidly. In other words, they are an invasive pest. They displace native species. Support and sympathy for them is not good environmental policy.
To whom it may concern,
Gerald is fowl beast from hell. However, not nearly as pathetic as the utter wimps that need to call Fish & Game for “support.” Retrain a turkey? They have the brain power of a walnut. It is turkey…eat the damn thing with gravy.