Article about Gerald first appeared on CNN.
GERALD in a container after his capture
Gerald was described as an “aggressive turkey” (forget what people are to turkeys) who was “terrorizing” a neighborhood as he “rampaged” through a park in Oakland, CA. Finally, the park was closed to people, but folks continued to visit it anyway, especially to see Gerald!
After 50 calls reporting Gerald’s bad behavior to the city authorities, who wanted to do the right thing for both Gerald and park visitors, there were concerning plans that verged on the unimaginable – to euthanize (kill) Gerald! They didn’t want to, but they just didn’t know about alternatives. When that plan became known to the public, there was a huge outcry. So, to the credit of Oakland citizens, and the City authorities who wanted to spare Gerald, they searched for a nonlethal solution to deal with Gerald’s personality defects. They called in wildlife experts from Wildlife Emergency Services www.wildlifeservices.org .
Rebecca Dmytryk, Director of Wildlife Emergency Services, and her husband, Duane Titus, arrived on the scene with blueberries and a net gun, but then another turkey trotted over with her babies for the blueberries, thus foiling the attempt to capture Gerald.
Finally, Rebecca lured Gerald by pretending to be injured and curling up in a ball to look small. Emboldened by her behavior, Gerald got close enough for Rebecca to quickly wrapped her arms around him from the back in a light bear hug. She explained that you never put pressure on the chest as it can cut off their breathing. Gerald was then taken to his new home.
Wildlife Watch followed up by contacting Rebecca, and, yes, we were assured that Gerald did NOT go to a place where he could be hunted!