Wild Turkeys Wreaking Havoc in Winthrop

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The town of Winthrop has a wild turkey problem.

Or more accurately, a turkey poop problem.

A flock of about 30 turkeys are leaving unwanted remnants on the boardwalk, to the chagrin of shop owners, who are having to clean the muck tracked into their stores.

The turkeys also gathered on the Winthrop Ice Rink, leaving staff to clean up the mess there.

There are other problems. At last year’s Christmas at the End of the Road celebration, the fireworks startled the flock, which flew into the celebratory crowd, causing commotion for both people and birds.

In another incident, a turkey flew into a window of a house within town limits and caused $1,500 in damage, according to Winthrop Councilmember Marisa Monteverde, who has had enough of the pesky gobbly necks.

She also noted the increased risk of the birds going onto the road and causing car accidents.

Following approval by the Winthrop Town Council, Monteverde drafted a letter to the Department of Fish and Wildlife asking for the birds to be relocated to a more suitable habitat.

“Town Council as well as the Winthrop’s Marshal [sic] have agreed that we need to mitigate the nuisance turkeys. We ask WDFW to allow us to hire a wildlife control operator and in conjunction with our town law enforcement, deal with the problem flock,” Monteverde wrote in her draft letter, which the Winthrop Town Council will review at its next regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 18.

“We are willing to waive our town code 6.12.010A that disallows trapping wildlife to allow designated officials to trap and remove the turkeys,” wrote Monteverde.

Winthrop Town Council will meet on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 6 pm in the Winthrop Barn. The agenda, including the letter to WDFW, can be found here.