A Wild Turkey Is Attacking People in D.C. Multiple Agencies Are in Pursuit.

WASHINGTON—On a recent sunny spring day, cardinals, meadowlarks and bobolinks flit through the wooded patch between Kenilworth Marsh and the Anacostia River. A serpentine concrete bike and foot path winds through this pastoral stretch just blocks from a dense working-class neighborhood, but nobody is here.

Steps away, a dozen or so neighbors jog and power walk on a synthetic city track. Walkers and bikers say they are afraid of the path through the woods after a series of recent attacks. Cliff Robinson pauses to explain.

“Because of those turkeys!” says Mr. Robinson, 70, a retired court-services employee. “I was attacked there. Three weeks ago. I was trying to get away from him and he came after me. He wouldn’t let me pass.”

The suspect: a male, heavyset, 3½-feet tall, with a blue head and neck, pink flaps on his chin that turn red when he struts, shiny black and fluorescent breast feathers and a large fanned bronze tail. The weapons: sharp beak and talons used to slash passersby in the legs and thighs. The victims: more than a dozen walkers and bikers, including several who have required urgent medical care, tetanus shots and antibiotics.

“There is an element of humor to it,” said Dan Rauch, a D.C. Department of Energy & Environment wildlife biologist, part of a team trying to catch the perpetrator. “There is a terror turkey stalking a river trail. If I hadn’t seen the videos myself, I would have thought it was an urban myth.”

Cliff Robinson avoids the trail where a wild turkey has been attacking. Photo: James Grimaldi/The Wall Street Journal

This being the nation’s capital, a multiagency task force of more than half a dozen agencies has assembled a dragnet across city, state and federal lands to cage the wily bird.

Wild turkeys are making a national comeback after nearly going extinct a century ago, according to a copy of Turkey Interview Talking Points drafted by the National Park Service and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. With the proliferation of wild turkeys, about 7 million nationwide, there has been an uptick in unhappy encounters with the public, from California to Massachusetts.

Most interactions are harmless and typically turkeys become aggressive during breeding season between March and May, though the attacks can occur at any time. Males are aggressive to establish dominance. Often they are protecting hens and a nest with eggs or fledglings. Turkey attacks have left people with bloody punctures, scratches and bruises.

Outside Boston in November 2020, Liz Poulette said she was on her way to a Dunkin’ for coffee (large, iced, cream, one Splenda) when a wild turkey began tailing them. “I had started walking backwards to keep an eye on it, not wanting to make any sudden moves,” Ms. Poulette said in an email. “When it was a few feet away, suddenly it jumped at me. Like out of some cartoon, I had to use my purse to beat it back.” She sustained scratches on her arm.

About the same time, in Oakland, Calif., a turkey named Gerald who lived in a municipal rose garden wounded several parkgoers, becoming so aggressive that one resident complained the bird reminded him of “the velociraptor scenes in Jurassic Park.” The city shut down the garden until he was captured and relocated by state game officials. It was an ordeal that took months, said Ann Dunn, director of Oakland Animal Services, who read a media account about the D.C. bird. “Even seeing the words ‘turkey attack’ brings back bad memories,” she said.

In Washington, the tom turkey who resides alongside a popular, 6-year-old Anacostia Riverwalk Trail, has become a fearsome bully, increasingly aggressive since he was first spotted at the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, a historic facility managed by the National Park Service. Joe Cashman, a park guide everyone knows as “Ranger Joe,” said that he and another park guide were on bike patrol when they were pursued by the fowl last fall.

The tom turkey lurks in the shadows alongside the Anacostia River in D.C. in April. Photo: Joe Cashman

“We got a kick out of it,” Ranger Joe said. “Then we started getting complaints. It started getting aggressive. It’s gotten more and more aggressive.”

In January, warning signs were posted. In February, the turkey aggression became extreme. Wild turkeys can run up to 25 miles an hour, according to the turkey talking points.

“It struts its stuff and spreads its tail feathers,” Ranger Joe said, sharing a video of the tom trying to attack him. The ranger, an Air Force Academy graduate, is no shrimp; he’s 6 feet, 4 inches tall.

As complaints mounted, the park service fretted. “It’s not a good situation,” Ranger Joe said. “We want to have a balance between protecting wildlife and protecting our visitors.”

“Why is the turkey still ‘at large?’ ” ask the talking points. “Turkeys are elusive birds and are hard to catch.”

Warning signs have been posted. Photo: James Grimaldi/The Wall Street Journal

Hunters have volunteered to take the matter in their own hands. “I’ll put that turkey in a pot,” one visitor told Ranger Joe. The offers have been declined. “We don’t want to kill it,” Ranger Joe said. The park service warns the public to avoid wildlife. “We understand the public wants to help, but please do not try to capture the turkey,” say the talking points. “Just let us know if you see him.”

The National Park Service hatched a plan. “The park determined that the turkey had to be captured and relocated,” the talking points state.

Enter the District of Columbia’s Department of Energy and the Environment, Division of Fish and Wildlife, which also enlisted the Humane Rescue Alliance, the nonprofit that acts as Washington’s animal-control unit.

The fowl has been spotted fleeing across the state line into Bladensburg, Md., as well, so also on the case are the Prince George’s County Parks and Recreation Department and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, which in 2021 reported 9,146 of the birds statewide in its Wild Turkey Observation Survey.

The fugitive is slick, Ranger Joe says, because he takes flight “when he sees nets.” The animal cops had him cornered under a bridge recently, but he flew across the Anacostia River to the U.S. National Arboretum—entangling yet another federal agency in the hunt, the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Turkey caught on a trail camera at the National Arboretum last fall. Photo: U.S. Department of Agriculture

The turkey fled to familiar terrain. The arboretum’s USDA wildlife manager, Sue Greeley, said that until last fall the turkey had been nesting at the 446-acre federal park since spring of 2021. He fattened up over the summer on the Brood X cicadas that emerged by the millions. Then, Ms. Greeley said, the tom may have taken off to avoid predators, including coyotes and possibly bald eagles, the arboretum’s more famous avian denizens who have their own streaming webcam.

Or maybe it was something a worker said. The bird last fall had a habit of following workers in the dogwood collection. “It was this comedic detective-like situation where he was following and then pretended he was not following,” Ms. Greeley said. One day, “near Thanksgiving, the gentleman turned and warned him that if he wasn’t careful, he was going to have him for dinner.”

The bird apparently high-tailed it out of the arboretum. “We haven’t seen him since November,” Ms. Greeley said.

Shortly thereafter the assaults began near Kenilworth gardens.

Social media and local broadcasts have been plump with reports. “I was chased by this guy back in November for a solid quarter mile at relatively high speed (I was lucky to be on my bike, not sure how this would’ve ended had I been on foot) before he finally gave up at the bridge, which is when I finally paused for this shot,” one victim posted above a photo on a local blog, PoPville.com.

“A wild turkey that attacked me on the Anacostia trail last night (Wednesday). I ended up at urgent care with puncture wounds on my legs and I had to get a tetanus shot and antibiotics,” another of the turkey’s targets wrote in February. “It was terrifying.”

One elderly woman told Ranger Joe she warded the turkey off with a fanny pack. Ranger Joe defended himself with a rolled-up plastic fence.

On a recent morning, Ranger Joe cautioned Terri Swegle, a tourist visiting the Kenilworth gardens with her family, and asked the Swegles to report any sightings. She said she was familiar with turkeys because they nest in her yard in Dixon, Ill., but those birds are docile. “This is awesome,” Mrs. Swegle said. “We’re in a pursuit!”

Ranger Joe, right, cautioned Terri Swegele and her family about the turkey. Photo: James Grimaldi/The Wall Street Journal

Write to James V. Grimaldi at [email protected]