Sounds like it's time to issue a 12 guage instead of pepper spray.
FOWL PLAY?: GH mail carriers dealing with agressive turkeys
Fri, Apr 10, 2009 to del.icio.us
BY BRIAN KEILEN
bkeilen@grandhaventribune.com
Mail carriers are trained to deal with attacks from dogs, bees and a variety of other animals, but nothing has prepared them for the latest animal threat — turkeys.
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"I don't remember seeing anything about turkeys," said Grand Haven Postmaster Barb Kiehborth.
But that's just what several Grand Haven carriers have been dealing with for the past month. A group of eight or nine turkeys — three toms in particular — has been disrupting the delivery of mail in the area of Montague Street and the 400 block of Slayton Avenue.
Carrier Jeremy Bogerd called the toms "super aggressive" and has even been pecked in the leg. They chase the mail carriers around the neighborhood and now gather at the door of the mail truck as soon as it enters the area, he said.
"As soon as they see us, they're after us," he said. "They're not afraid of humans."
Four mail carriers have been chased by the turkeys, according to Kiehborth. The birds — which Bogerd estimates weigh between 15 and 18 pounds each — normally migrate up and down the hill as the mail carriers visit each location, Bogerd said. They are spotted by a mail carrier nearly every day.
Bogerd has been on the route for 10 years, and has watched the group of turkeys grow over the years, but this is the first time he has been chased by them. The first time, they trapped him on a porch. Now they're becoming even bolder, he said.
"They'll chase you as soon as they see the truck," he said.
And attempting to avoid them or to get rid of them has been a challenge. Some carriers now drive their trucks all the way down the block, Bogerd said, and he has even thrown a snowball at them.
"There's not much you can do," he said.
Doug Cody, another carrier who has had troubles with the turkeys, found a small piece of lumber on a porch that he now uses to fend off the birds. If he doesn't immediately see the turkeys when he enters the neighborhood, he is constantly on the lookout for them.
"I feel like my head's on a swivel," he said.
Even more perplexing is the fact that mail carriers are the only humans who seem to agitate the turkeys. Initially, the postal workers were concerned with neighborhood children being attacked, but Bogerd has seen neighbors feeding the turkeys and they act docile around other humans, he said. But when the mail carriers appear, they puff up and begin making noise.
Mail carriers are required to carry mace, but the turkeys' heads are too small to hit, Bogerd said, and he's afraid of what might happen if he does use it on them.
"I don't even know what to tell them to do," Kiehborth said, adding that she laughed when she first heard about the turkeys.
No one's sure why the turkeys are attacking the carriers, but the leading theory is the male birds are defending their territory or trying to impress females during mating season, Bogerd said.
Whatever the reason, he hopes they calm down soon. They are trained to use their mail bags as shields from aggressive dogs, he said — a tactic that has been marginally successful against the turkeys.
"I would rather get attacked by a dog sometimes than these turkeys," Bogerd said.
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