A Massachusetts town has been terrorized by feathered hooligans and their ruthless leader: Kevin.
These birds survived another Thanksgiving, but they have no gratitude.
They stop traffic, peck, kick, and cluck loudly at the residence of Woburn. And if you catch Kevin and his gang on a bad day, they'll go after your children too!
They peck at cars, they stop traffic. They go after kids on bikes. If you're walking or jogging, or anything like that, they come for you.
For whatever reason, this wild turkey gang spends a lot of their time on one woman's lawn in particular. Meaghan Tolson is actually the one to give Kevin his name, and she says he is the badest turkey around.
"The women are more mellow and not so territorial. But I think he kind of amps them up to get them going to chase people," she told The Guardian.
Kevin runs with a tight all-female crew, who Tolson calls Gladys, Ester, Monica, and Patricia.
There have been multiple reports of these big birds terrorizing people and not letting people leave their homes, allegedly.
From The Guardian:
A lot of people will leave brooms or rakes at their front door so that they can get them out if the turkeys are there.
Some days it is frustrating. I'll be like: ‘Oh my God, there's an Amazon package' and I can't go get it, because the turkeys are there.
Then I just have to wait until nightfall. I've kind of adjusted over time to it. I know their routine now, so I can kind of work around [them].
"They don't let you out of your house," Tolson said.
Another unfortunate resident and victim of the turkey gang is Devin Farren, who told NBC Boston that "they're up at 6 a.m. in my lawn and start chasing us, trying to pop the tires."
Turkey expert David Scarpitti with the state's wildlife department told CBS Boston that this type of wild turkey problem arises when turkeys become too comfortable with humans. Typically this happens when people feed them directly or from the turkeys freeloading off of bird feeders intended for other (smaller, better looking, less terrifying) kinds of birds.
"Turkeys are just kind of acting out what they do amongst themselves," he said, adding that running away can fuel the problem because they'll begin to see you as "subdominant" to them.
Scarpitti recommends carrying an umbrella and opening it in front of you to frighten off the birds.
Stay safe out there.
