Most Alamedans love our wild turkeys that roam our streets, often using crosswalks to make their way across. Most people stop their cars to allow them to walk peacefully, and many of us stop to get photos of these popular feathered locals.
Alameda turkeys. Photo by Rick Lewis.
But one 38-year-old Alameda man is facing felony animal cruelty charges for allegedly hunting a wild turkey and shooting it to death with a .177 caliber BB gun near the 400 block of Pensacola Road on Alameda Point in August. Court records show he was booked into jail on December 17, after the case was filed, and bail was set at $50,000, according to a report in the Mercury News.
Police said the defendant, who has since bailed out and been released according to court records, lives about three-and-a-half miles from where the turkey was killed. The illegal hunting was reported to police and animal control by an eyewitness, who later identified the suspect from a photo lineup, police said.
Authorities collected the turkey carcass and took it to a veterinarian for a full necropsy before bringing the case to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, according to records quoted in the Mercury News story.
Alameda’s wild turkey population has increased significantly since they first appeared on the island 10 to 15 years ago, according to a Friends of the Alameda Wildlife Reserve (FAWR) report in the Alameda Post. Flocks and individual families are scattered around both Alameda and Bay Farm islands.
“We don’t have coyotes, bobcats, or other predators that would prey on adult turkeys and help keep the population numbers lower,” the FAWR report states. “Wild turkeys mostly forage on the ground, although they will climb into shrubs to get fruit. Their primary diet is plant material, including seeds and nuts. They supplement their diet with salamanders, snails, and insects.”
And in case you’re wondering, yes, they can fly. And swim, too.