Family tries hoses, bright lights, nerf guns to shoo turkeys from backyard

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    ELK GROVE, CA (KOVR) — An Elk Grove neighborhood has been dealing with some fowl visitors lately, and they’re making their presence felt.

Tony Quattrociocchi, a long-time resident of Shady Vista Court, says turkeys have milled around their court for years, but it seems as if a large group of turkeys are taking over the neighborhood.

“There’s been more than I’ve seen since I’ve been here and I’ve been here almost 25 years,” Quattarocicchi said.

Neighbor Zaria Naidu said for the past month and a half, turkeys have been in their trees most every night. Naidu has been seeing a lot of the turkeys lately and it’s become quite a nuisance for her and her family.

“I couldn’t figure out how they were getting there until one day I just heard, um, it sounded like there was an earthquake on my roof,” Naidu said.

She told CBS13 that there have been up to 20 turkeys roosting in their tall redwoods, leaving behind plenty of debris in their backyard, including droppings, feathers and more.

“They leave a huge mess. That’s how you can tell that they’ve come. Even when you think that they’re not there, the next morning you’ll come out and the entire yard their mess, debris from the trees,” Naidu said. “Every morning it’s a race to go out there and see, you know, were the turkey here?”

This family has tried pretty much everything but the kitchen sink to get rid of the birds in a non-harmful way.

“We have tried hoses. We’ve tried bright lights, flashing lights. We’ve tried smoke from a grill. We’ve tried nerf guns. They’re so far you can’t reach them,” Naidu said.

Naidu told CBS13 that she’s potentially looking into buying coyote urine after someone mentioned it rid them of their turkey troubles.

“I just want to see if it has any effects on my dog or bringing anything else, inviting anything else in,” Naidu said.

This frustrated neighbor said that luckily they didn’t experience any turkey drama on Sunday night. Adding, for some reason, the turkeys will leave and then later return. Unfortunately, Naidu hasn’t found much luck finding out who can help rid their back yard and block of the turkey issue.

She told CBS13 she contacted Animal Control and that there was nothing that they could do.

CBS13 contacted Sacramento County and different wildlife agencies about why the turkeys would come and go. We weren’t provided an answer at the time this article was written.

Other neighbors CBS13 spoke to said that they’re either indifferent regarding the turkeys or understand where frustrated neighbors are coming from.

Naidu said that she is hoping to find a catch and release solution for the turkeys so that they can be relocated away from her home and neighborhood.

“I’d love to just tell them to just go on do your own thing anywhere but here. You know, anywhere but in our trees and in our neighborhood. Nobody has a problem with you, just move along,” Naidu said.

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