Non-native birds find a home at Lane Community College
By Kat Tabor
Photos by: Kat Tabor
The wild turkeys wandering Lane Community College’s campus may be charming to some and a nuisance to others, but wildlife officials say their presence reflects a broader issue: non-native species settling into Oregon ecosystems.
LCC student Joey Helton says he is the #1 hater of the campus turkeys. “They drive me nuts and I hate them, and it’s no wonder we eat them for Thanksgiving,” he says. Helton adds, “I used to go to Oak Hill, the school across the street [from LCC main campus] for eight years, and the groundskeeper there had to work overtime at like six or seven in the morning and shoo the turkeys away because people couldn’t get through the gate.”
“They were brought into Oregon quite a long time ago,” says Christopher Yee, a district wildlife biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. According to the agency, wild turkeys were first introduced into the state in the 1960s and have since become a popular game species.
Once turkeys choose a place to stay, Yee says they tend to stick around. “An example would be there were some in Roseburg that were removed onto the Umpqua National Forest, and they showed up in Oakridge. That’s like 60 air miles,” he says. “Moving turkeys around, you know, at this point, not a real good idea because you don’t know if they’re gonna stay where you put them.”
The problem worsens when people interact in the wrong ways. “It’s exacerbated with people either intentionally or unintentionally feeding them,” Yee says.
Yee points out that in Eugene, feeding wildlife is actually illegal. City Code 6.020 prohibits feeding wild animals, a policy intended to prevent habituation, overpopulation, and potentially aggressive behavior.
So the best way to coexist with the campus flock? Don’t engage.
“Mostly, if someone comes in close contact with a turkey, the turkey is gonna run away,” Yee says. “The exception to that is during the courtship. In the spring some of the males, or Toms, can get pretty aggressive, and they will chase people, and in certain circumstances, and may even try to rear up and get you with their spurs.”
Unlike Helton, LCC student Cassidy Payne is a campus turkey fan and says “Ben Franklin was right. That turkeys should have been our national bird.”
She adds “I love every turkey that’s ever been born, especially the LCC turkeys.” Payne says, “Turkeys are perfect.”
