Teaneck, NJ – Jewish Family Hit By Wild Turkey: Town Plans To Use Air Horns To Deal With Problem

Teaneck, NJ – A New Jersey town plans to acquire 20 air horns to help its residents deal with aggressive wild turkeys.

Animal Control Officer Vincent Ascolese said he will give the air horns to Teaneck officials to distribute to the public, The Record newspaper reported (http://bit.ly/1q5bkMs ).

“We have to coexist as best as possible,” he said.

Amy Schweitzer, of the state Department of Environmental Protection’s fish and wildlife division, said she captured an aggressive male turkey on Tuesday, which she said will help ease the aggression of the wild birds.

Officials said they’ve received about a dozen complaints — and one police report — from residents reporting aggressive wild turkeys. The birds have attacked residents, pecked at cars and held up traffic. One has flown through a resident’s glass kitchen window.

Town officials said only the state is able to touch the birds, but residents can humanely scare them away by using water hoses or making loud noises to assert dominance.

Schweitzer said that cardboard in windows or window decorations can help keep birds from defecating in yards or attacking windows.

The birds’ aggressive behavior tends to decrease in the summer when flocks break up, Schweitzer said. Residents with an immediate issue have been told to call the police.

Another victim of the turkey attacks a Jewish family told NBC 4 New York that they were sitting at their kitchen table in Teaneck in January when a wild turkey crash-landed through a window into her home.

“It was so loud and so dramatic when the bird came in, glass was flying everywhere, we were covered in glass, the bird was freaking out, the turkey was throwing his wings,” she said. “Every time he spread his wings, glass was flying everywhere.” Courtney Lopchinsky told the TV station.