Staten Island residents are already sick of turkey, and it isn鈥檛 even Thanksgiving yet.
Roving bands of feral turkeys鈥攖housands of them鈥攈ave become mess-making, traffic-stopping nuances to residents, according to . The birds turn yards into toilets, ravage gardens, and wake-up residents in raucous pre-dawn mating sessions. Residents are unsure how to handle the infestation.
“We don鈥檛 want to kill them. We just want them to leave us alone,” Barbara Laing, who has seen at least 50 turkeys gather outside of her house,
Experts say the nation鈥檚 wild turkey population has rebounded from 300,000 in the early 1950s to seven million today. Maine extended its turkey hunting season this fall to cut down the burgeoning population, and the abundant animals were accused of.