Gobbledygook: Moment police capture WILD TURKEY that elderly apartment owner feared was a burglar
- Doris Madden grew suspicious when she noticed a second-story window had been broken at the City Walk Apartments in Wausau, Wisconsin, on Friday
- She asked for the apartment site’s manager to get maintenance to investigate the mysterious break-in
- ‘When he opened the door, there’s the turkey. And so he thought, “I’m not going to try to catch that thing,'”‘ Madden said, as police called for animal control
- In body cam footage shared by Wassau Police, officers caught the wild turkey while it was flapping its wings out of fear, and without injuring
- The wild bird was eventually released back into nature
An elderly couple in Wisconsin were terrified by the prospect of a burglar breaking into their apartment, prompting police to bust inside with a crow bar and realize a giant wild turkey was the intruder.
Doris Madden told local news outlets that she grew suspicious when she noticed a second-story window had been broken at the City Walk Apartments in Wausau on Friday.
‘We had no idea what had caused it, or if anybody was even home,’ Madden told WSAW.
She asked for the apartment site’s manager to get maintenance to investigate the mysterious break-in.
‘When he opened the door, there’s the turkey. And so he thought, “I’m not going to try to catch that thing.” So he called the police station for animal control,’ Madden said.
A wild turkey had broken into a second-floor apartment building at City Walk Apartments in Wausau, Wisconsin, on Friday
Officers with the Wasau Police Department had intially thought they were responding to a burglary or a break-in, but instead found the wild turkey in an empty room
WHO’S IN THE HEN HOUSE: Flapping its wings out of fear, the turkey flew around the room for a while before its capture, bodycam footage from police officers show
The wild turkey was caught with the help of a fishing net and gloves, as it was later released without harm outside
‘A lot of times the first response in any call including animal calls are our patrol officers,’ said Wausau Police Department Patrol Captain Todd Baeten.
‘They just have to try to do the best they can with the information that they have and the equipment available to them,’ he added.
In body cam footage shared by Wassau Police, officers caught the black-feathered turkey, which was flapping its wings out of fear, without injuring it.
Shortly after its capture, the turkey was released outside and the apartment was safe once more.
Baeten said he couldn’t have been prouder of the department’s response, proving how reliable and compliant officers in the area are.
Police also said the bird was caught with gloves and a fishing net to prevent it from being harmed.
‘It really underscores the unpredictable nature of the job, that our officers are asked to do at any given time,’ Baeten said.
The wild bird made its way inside by smashing through a glass window on the second-floor of an apartment building
Doris Madden, a resident of City Walks Apartment, noticed the broken window before calling police
After word had spread around about the surprising break-in, Madden said the whole building is now ‘talking turkey.’
‘I think it’s kind of funny. I’m just glad it wasn’t my apartment,’ she told WSAW.
Last year, Wisconsin’s turkey population was estimated to be 37,179 during the 2021 spring turkey hunting season, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
That’s a 17 percent decline compared to 2020 and the lowest since 1999, a report from the Department of Natural Resources shows.
In March 2021, Wausau Police had to deal with a similar situation when officers had to clear a deer that crashed through a window into a local nursing home.
Although the deer appeared to have sustained a couple of small cuts from the glass, the officers were able to successfully get the animal back to its natural habitat without any further harm.
If a turkey is found in a home, it is advised that homeowners or tenants scare or threaten the animal by swatting it with a broom or spraying it with water.
It has also been recommended to hide or cover shiny objects as turkeys tend to aggressively chase their own reflections. Protect your garden with netting is also advised in case turkeys are in your backyard.
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