Eau Claire Working With USDA to Relocate Troublesome Turkeys

The City of Eau Claire is working with the local U.S. Department of Agriculture office to relocate a flock of unusually aggressive turkeys.

According to City officials, the turkeys have been harassing pedestrians in the Old Wells Road and U.S. Highway 312 area for months. When the incidents first began, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials told the city that the turkeys’ mating season could be a contributing factor to the increased aggression.

With the incidents still occurring months later however, the turkeys’ behavior now seems more territorial. Stanley Temple is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin – Madison and a senior fellow at the Aldo Leopold Foundation. He says increased interactions with humans could be the leading factor behind the increased aggression.

“Unfortunately one of the things that we do that further encourages aggression is that when turkeys do sort of act even vaguely aggressive towards us, we retreat, we sort of run away from them,” he said. “And that is sort of positive reinforcement for aggressive behavior.”

City of Eau Claire officials say they explored a number of possible options for dealing with the turkeys, ranging from hunting them to encouraging pedestrians to just try to scare them off. A relocation effort with the local USDA office was always an option, but they tried to avoid that plan as the relocation comes with a cost of over $1,000.

Now, relocation appears to be the only legitimate option to address the issue as humanely as possible. USDA officials are working to develop a plan to capture and relocate the turkeys using a drop net, but are still working out the details on the best time and place to do that.