BY WALTER ELLIOTT
WEST ORANGE – Whatever happens to the turkey recently roaming West Orange’s Pleasantdale section, it will not end up on anyone’s Thanksgiving Day dinner plate.
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Fish and Wildlife Division and U.S. Agriculture Department specialists, on behalf of the township, are hoping to capture the wild turkey and resettle it on state property when you read this.
The bird, which has tended to occupy the area of Pleasant Valley Way and Mt. Pleasant Avenue the past month, had been partially living on neighbors and drivers’ handouts. Those feedings, said township and DEP officials, have kept it in the neighborhood to its own and others’ detriment.
“It’s come to our attention that some motorists have been feeding this turkey by throwing food out of their vehicles,” said Mayor Susan McCartney in a Nov. 9 announcement. “While we appreciate your support and care for our local wildlife, it’s crucial that you understand feeding this turkey can unintentionally interfere with the USDA’s objectives and hamper their capture efforts.”
The West Orange Animal Control Officer may have meanwhile talked with the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation and the Daughters of Israel respective management to tell everyone to stop feeding the turkey.
“Usually these turkeys move on; they’re smart, they know where to get fed,” said township Health and Welfare Director Michael Fonzino. “If it’s in the roadway eating, it’s going to get run over by a car. It was apparently hit by a car last weekend (Nov. 3-5) but, thankfully, it’s OK (and) came back.”
This wild turkey was first spotted by Pleasantdale residents in October and began calling the West Orange Police Department about its presence on roads and in driveways. Fonzino said he has since heard reports of the bird charging area pedestrians, joggers and bicyclists.
The bird appears to be intact so far – but with a tranquilizer dart in its chest, the result of a USDA capture attempt. It tends to stay around a hillside of the Second Orange Mountain, with Mt. Pleasant Avenue winding west into Livingston.
This turkey, to mix metaphors, is more like a lone wolf.
The National Wild Turkey Federation said, on Oct. 26, that wild turkeys tend to travel in flocks and stay between a roughly 400 by 1,400 square foot area. It may have a nest nearby, which Fonzino said has not been found to date.
For the record, this turkey is not the same one depicted in recent Thanksgiving Day editions of “Local Talk.” Their most direct link is that they have had their photos taken in the neighborhood.
On the other hand, “Local Talk” encountered a similar wild turkey walking on a driveway and into one of The Crescent’s housing backyards in central Montclair Nov. 8. Both turkeys, like from sightings of deer, bear and foxes in more urbanized areas, may have come from nearby reservations, forests or open space.
Those encountering the turkey or any wildlife are to give it a wide berth. Do not disturb it while taking pictures. Please do not feed them – and notify authorities.
For quite a few years, “Local Talk” Content Editor Kristopher Seals ran a column every Thanksgiving that centered upon hypothetical reasons why a turkey was standing in the middle of a Nutley road, based on things that happened during the year. After 2020, he retired the piece.
When asked about why this turkey was wandering about West Orange in 2023, Seals offered the following:
- To get away from Taylor Swift.
- It’s on strike – like everyone else.
- It just got off of a plane and said, “THAT MOTHER TURKEY IS NOT REAL!”
- It’s about to break out into one of those Benjamins Deli dances.
- It’s got movie tickets. It’ll see “Oppenheimer” first, and then “Barbie,” because at the end of the day, it’s just Tur-KEN.
- It got indicted with Donald Trump and is on the run.
- To suit up and play quarterback for the Giants or Jets – since their current QBs are practically turkeys already.
- It’s hiding from the Smiths (Either Jada might put its business out in the street, or Will might slap the stuffing out of it).
- For wrestling fans: It got kicked out of The Bloodline.
- To find the mythical algorithm that Cami Anderson used to place students in Newark’s schools. (He still isn’t letting this go.)
