Turkey invades Mass. house, second incident in recent days

Upton police caught and released a wild turkey Saturday night after it flew through a third-floor glass window of a house and began roaming through the residence, according to a Facebook post by the department.

Officer Michael Goncalves responded to the scene and was soon able to grab hold of the feathered suspect, checking it for any injuries before releasing it.

No harm, no foul, and no charges for this fowl.

“Policing in a rural community often brings about calls for service that are considered ‘non-traditional,'” Upton police wrote in its Facebook post. “We applaud Officer Goncalves on his ability to safely remove the turkey before it caused further damage or injured itself.”

The incident comes just two days after another Massachusetts homeowner discovered a turkey had broken into her residence.

Lisa Spencer,  a 63-year-old from Newton,returned to her home Thursday to find a turkey in her living room, according to The Boston Globe.

“I have a turkey in my house and I have no idea how he got in here or how I get him out,” Spencer said in a roughly 30-second video posted to Facebook. “Or for that matter who you call to get the turkey out of your house.”

Though Spencer was eventually able to convince the uninvited guest to leave, she was not so pleased to find that the turkey had left “gifts” all over the house.

“Poop everywhere,” she commented under the Facebook post when someone asked about the damage. “Lol. Every time it flew it pooped lol.”

Marj Rines, a Mass Audubon naturalist, said the fact that there were two incidents of turkeys breaking into houses so close together was “pure coincidence” and that she doesn’t believe it to be a common problem.

“The turkey doesn’t want to be there any more than you want it there,” Rines told Boston.com.

“A turkey ending up in your attic is really, really, really remote,” the naturalist said. “I can’t imagine what suggested the turkey to think it was a good idea to go in unless somebody had been feeding the turkeys.”

Generally, for animals, “their major goals in life are getting food so they can reproduce,” Rines said.

“They’re obviously not going to reproduce in the house, so finding food is the reason they’re doing it,” she speculated.

In the event that a turkey does make it into someone’s home, Rines suggests covering all the windows and opening a door to encourage the turkey to leave on their own.

“The turkey wants to get out,” she said.

If that doesn’t work, Rines said a local animal control officer is typically the best person to contact for help.

Want to leave a comment?

Create an Account Or sign in to your account

To comment, please create a screen name in your profile

To comment, please verify your email address

Conversation

This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com