Shoreview City Council votes to remove wild turkeys
Posted on 02. Mar, 2010 by Chris Dohman in City Council, Meeting
photo by Ingrid Taylar
The Shoreview City Council voted unanimously Monday evening to implement a control effort to remove up to 75 wild turkeys from two Shoreview neighborhoods.
Numerous complaints by residents have been received by the city. Wild turkeys are roosting on roofs, scratching on shingles, yards and trees. The turkeys have chased children and littered yards with droppings. Flocks of over 60 wild turkeys have been counted in the yards of the Brigadoon neighborhood. Most of the complaints are similar in that the people really enjoyed the turkeys initially but this year they are now overwhelmed by the increased numbers and the nuisance the birds have become.
Shoreview’s previous city council meeting was Feb 16th and everyone who commented spoke of problematic turkeys and how something needed to be done. But the momentum definitely swung in favor of the turkeys for a good share of tonight’s meeting. At least thirty citizens were there for the turkey talk and the predominant viewpoint was that of save the turkeys. Of the nine people that spoke, seven were against the trapping and killing of the birds. Only one resident appealed for the control of the birds and one youth offered up the archery services of he and his fellow Boy Scouts.
Residents offered their services to help move the birds to other locations and urged people to stop feeding the turkeys which attract the turkeys to congregate in these residential areas. They explained how their experiences with turkeys in their yards have created few problems and encounters have been beneficial and wonderful.
One resident brought up the issue that nets have already been set up and baiting has already started for the trapping of the turkeys. These actions implied that the council’s mind was made up well before tonight’s meeting which didn’t sit well with people. The council members and Mayor Sandy Martin said that some of them maybe had decided after the last meeting that something had to be done about the troublesome turkeys but hearing tonight’s comments surely presented the other side of things. They went on to explain that despite the prep work, no trapping had been done yet and it only was going to happen after this evening’s meeting and the proper approvals. The contractor, Canada Goose Management, Inc had only started prepping the process because of the urgency involved to get the birds before snow melt and when the birds disperse.
The appeals to save the birds were not enough to sway the opinions of the council. The city council members felt the numbers and nuisance some residents are putting up with is just too much, and if nothing is done quickly before new chicks are hatched things are only going to be worse next year.
The Minnesota DNR which has to issue a permit for any action was not interested in the idea of relocating the birds because the wild turkey population is currently on the rise and not threatened. The DNR issued a permit for the city to take up to 75 turkeys by April 1, 2010. The birds will be donated to an area food shelf.
The city council stressed that residents must stop feeding the wild turkeys and deer. They also directed the city staff to strengthen and better define city code so it can be better enforced when people do feed these wild animals.
photo by Ingrid Taylar via Flickr
They should have brought in some red foxes and let mother nature find the balance. Unless they are all removed they will be back in short order. Turkey’s produce about 7 chicks per year based on my observations.
Thanks for the comment Peter. I think they were in need of a quick fix for these residents but you are probably right about them coming back. Maybe the folks feeding them will finally stop.
It’s a shame. I’m sure many like me are devastated as we love the wildlife. The poor folks who fed the birds now have to deal with the pain of seeing them killed. We residents have a few days. I say we chase the turkeys out of Shoreview so that they have a chance at survival. Or maybe you young people could do something. They are easy to herd. So many wild areas in and near the TC that could do with a few more birds. The City council DNR opted for the easy way out of this.
Thanks for your input Kristina.
It will be interesting to see how well the trapping works and how many they get. I would guess it wouldn’t be hard for them to be spooked out of the area before they are trapped. But if they are not able to take many birds with the trapping it will also be interesting to see what the numbers are like in the neighborhood later this year.