Chartiers turkey becomes local sensation
A known fugitive of the Pennsylvania Game Commission has been gobbling up attention on Allison Hollow Road in Chartiers Township.
Homer the turkey has had the game commission chasing him for weeks, but he’s become a neighborhood staple, receiving his own name and Facebook page.
“We received several reports regarding a turkey that’s been chasing vehicles, pecking at vehicles, causing a disturbance, chasing after people and things like that,” Game Warden Daniel Sitler said. “We’ve been attempting to capture this turkey for the last three weeks or so. It doesn’t want to cooperate with me, but we’re going to continue to try to capture this bird.”
Linda Hughes, of Allison Hollow Road, said Homer showed up in October and has become a fixture at Allison Hollow and McGovern roads.
“We call him our traffic controller,” she said. “He was coming right up to people within a few feet. It’s obvious that he was raised by somebody or at least fed from an early age.”
Jamie Goodwin, of Old Hickory Ridge Road, said she drives Allison Hollow every day. Both she and Hughes said Homer disappeared for a few weeks around Thanksgiving time and showed up again in December.
“He’s a smart turkey,” Goodwin said.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Homer the Roamer got his name from Jocelyn Beresh, who also lives in the neighborhood.
“I always called him Roamer Homer, since he’s always roaming around,” she said. “He was out with a group of turkeys for a while and he seemed to never move on. It just seems like he’s gotten more and more comfortable there.”
But not all of the residents in that neighborhood are comfortable with Homer. He’s created some controversy as some consider him a nuisance, chasing and pecking at cars, chasing joggers, eating all the bird seed, aggravating pets and squawking at people.
Goodwin, who recently started the Facebook page “Homer the Allison Turkey,” said some residents have complained about Homer on the page, saying he’s left “unpleasant trails” in their yards.
“There are a couple of people that don’t seem thrilled about him, but I’d probably feel the same way if he was destroying my property,” she said.
Beresh said he chased her minivan once, but she suspects he’s only aggressive when being shooed away.
“I think he’s aggressive because he doesn’t want you chasing him out of the way,” she said. “Homer just wants to hang out and have friends.”
Beresh said Homer often stops traffic at his intersection at Allison and McGovern. She said she knows people that drive out of their way to see Homer and others who drive out of their way to avoid him.
“If he’s in the middle of the road – which he usually is – he’s not moving for you,” she said.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Goodwin also said Homer stubbornly rules that intersection.
“Every time I drive through there, he just stands there,” she said. “I lay on the horn, and he just doesn’t move. I think he likes us, or he knows we like him … well, some of us like him.”
Hughes is one of the neighbors that likes Homer. She puts out bird seed for him and said he’s discovered where she keeps the seed can.
“He’s very healthy, and he doesn’t hurt anybody,” she said. “He’ll just follow me around and peck at the pail that I use to put the seed out.”
“He’s our local mascot,” she continued. “We look for him every day and when we don’t see him, we worry that something happened.”
Sitler said the turkey has “habituated to people” through the food that he’s received. He said the bird feeders in the area are an “attractant” for him to stick around.
“We may take him and release him into a more wild setting where he’s not going to be around people,” Sitler said. “We’re paying attention to what we can do for this bird and with this bird.”
Beresh said she would love for Homer to remain in the area because he’s become a “novelty,” but that she wants him to be somewhere safe.
“You get used to seeing him every morning,” she said. “But I’d hate to see him get hit by a car.”
Hughes agreed if Homer is relocated by the game commission, she wants him to be somewhere safe.
“We don’t want him killed,” she said. “He’s just trying to live and be a turkey.”