Turkeys ruffling feathers in Murrysville for drivers, farmers

Forget about chickens crossing the road. Motorists along busy Route 22 should watch out for wild turkeys, said Murrysville police Chief Thomas Fitzgerald.

In the past two weeks, police responded to two calls in which motorists struck turkeys.

On Monday, a driver traveling near Frescura's Auto Parts hit a turkey, which glanced off the truck and crashed through the windshield of the car behind.

'Both adults in the front seat were covered with turkey parts,' Fitzgerald said. 'The turkey exploded when it went through the windshield and made a hole the size of a football.'

Police responding to the accident scene initially thought the passengers were seriously injured because they were covered with blood, but they were not harmed.

A week earlier, a motorist escaped injury when a turkey trying to cross the same stretch of road was struck by a passing vehicle.

Fitzgerald said turkeys seem to be roosting in a field nearby.

And a Murrysville police officer is still being razzed about a hole being torn in his uniform pants by a turkey a few weeks ago. The friendly agitation included the appearance of a life-sized concrete bird near the station entrance.

Murrysville is not the only community where turkeys and humans have had run-ins.

During the past few months, a turkey attacked police officers at the North Park firing range in Allegheny County, and turkeys crashed through windows at two homes in Forest Hills.

Flocks of turkeys are now commonly seen in populated communities in the area, said Mel Schake, Pennsylvania Game Commission spokesman.

'Turkeys are subject to being disturbed from human and wildlife activity, and it's unfortunate that they caused an accident,' he said. 'It could have been a whole lot worse by the sounds of things.'

Schake said the Pittsburgh area has turned out to be a good habitat for turkeys, although it wasn't always considered that.

'We've had a pretty healthy turkey population for a number of years now,' he said. 'Having turkeys thrive in our region is a modern-day success story from a trap-and-transfer program back in 1980s when birds were brought, for the most part, from the northern part of the state.'

In the 1980s, the state had so few turkeys that it banned hunting them for several years.

Dustin Heeter, livestock agent with the Pennsylvania Cooperative Extension, agreed the turkey population has increased, citing farmers who mention seeing more turkeys eating corn and other crops.

Despite the number of turkeys, Schake said deer generate the most complaints because of the agricultural damage they cause.