The past 48 hours have been pretty heavy. It’s time for some levity again. Fortunately, this story has arrived just in the nick of time:
A Davis turkey known as Downtown Tom has become so aggressive residents have taken to calling 911 for help.
The turkey spends most of his time hanging around the Wells Fargo parking lot in downtown, lunging at, circling and chasing after people.
The following are excerpts from some of those 911 calls:
Dispatcher: Davis Police Department, how can I help you?
-- Caller 1: Yes, this is almost embarrassing. I am trying to get into my office on G Street in Davis and I have this huge turkey surrounding my car, circling me and I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to run it over but I can’t stay in my car all morning, is there any advice you can give me?
-- Caller 2: Hi, um, (gobble) I got a turkey here that just won’t let me leave … It just put me in a corner and I can’t exactly go anywhere.”
-- Caller 3: I can’t leave, I can’t go anywhere (gobble) … It’s just standing here, and I’ve got to get somewhere.
-- Caller 4: Um yeah, so, there’s a turkey between 4th and on 5th and F that’s running around chasing after people. And this was like, it was attacking, pretty much attacking a guy.”
The problem has gotten so out of hand that city officials have put up signs warning residents about the turkey and offering tips on how to handle him if approached.
“Be assertive, clap your hands, talk loudly or shout at the bird,” the sign advises.
Or, you know, you could always threaten to turn him into Thanksgiving dinner.