A US postal worker is citing self defense after he was accused of beating a wild turkey to death.
California wildlife authorities and the U.S. Postal Service have launched a full scale investigation, after witnesses claimed that the man, after being accosted by a particularly aggressive turkey, retrieved a pole or stick from his vehicle and used it to fatally beat the bird.
Capt. Patrick Foy, a local spokesman with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said his department first received reports of turkey aggression from the Postal Service in October, in the same Sacramento neighbourhood as this week’s deadly incident.
Foy said his department sent a wildlife biologist out to the area who observed four turkeys actively, aggressively surround and chase after a mail carrier when he got out of his mail truck.
Officials even attempted to capture some of the aggressive turkeys but were unsuccessful.
Mail carriers have tried to defend themselves by swinging their mail bags, kicking at them or using pepper spray but none of the tactics seem to work. Fish and Wildlife officials are investigating the incident to see if the mail carrier committed any crimes.
Officials are asking anyone who may have captured the confrontation on camera to contact the department and have even collected the carcass of the animal but say it cannot be used as evidence as it was in a resident’s possession for two days before the collected it.
When a turkey attacks, it peck and also uses the sharp spurs on the back of its legs.
The wild birds can tend to be more aggressive around March as it’s around the start of their mating season.
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