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Fowl Trouble: Medford Seeks Solution To Wild Turkey Problem

Bob Pennell/Medford Mail Tribune
Wild turkeys walk along a fence in Jacksonville, where the feeding of wildlife has been banned. Medford may consider following suit to deal with the growing nuisance of turkeys.

At first a single wild turkey showing up in an east Medford yard could be seen as a cute addition to urban life, then someone breaks out the bread crumbs and now you have an entire neighborhood grousing over gobblers.

That lone turkey invites 24 of his family and friends that start digging up flowerbeds, laying landmines on sidewalks and tearing up shingles with their sharp talons as they roost on roofs to the delight of a few but the chagrin of the majority.

“It’s just like, ‘If you build it, they will come,’ ” Medford City Manager Pro Tem Bill Hoke says. “If you feed them, they will stay.”

Growing turkey problems have enough Medford residents crying fowl that city leaders are starting to talk turkey while trying to reduce or rid the city of this slice of urban wildlife that creates more nuisance complaints annually.

To read more, visit the Medford Mail Tribune.