Troublesome turkeys pestering NASA lab in California to get a new home, officials say

Turkeys are stirring up trouble at a NASA lab in California — but their tomfoolery is about to end.

A flock of wild turkeys has roamed the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View for years, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“They were very charming,” former employee Dylan Spangle told KPIX. Lately, however, the birds have become more of a problem, officials said.

The birds leave a mess, damage parked vehicles, peck at windows, block traffic and become aggressive in mating season, U.S. Department of Agriculture officials told The Mercury News.

Now federal officials are working with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to find the turkeys a less-vexing home, according to the publication.

“This is kind of a unique situation,” spokesman Ken Paglia told KTVU, noting the state agency doesn’t normally get involved in relocating turkeys.

The 18 or so turkeys will be trapped and moved to the roughly 3,000-acre San Antonio Valley Ecological Reserve, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“There’s already a small population of turkeys there. and it’s a turkey habitat,” Paglia told KTVU. “They have food, water, and everything a turkey needs.”

USDA officials plan to corral the turkeys by luring them into a trap with bait before moving them to the refuge, KPIX reported.

“This measure protects the safety and well-being of the turkeys, as well as the Ames community and workforce,” NASA said in a statement to the station.

This story was originally published February 9, 2022 at 12:29 PM with the headline "Troublesome turkeys pestering NASA lab in California to get a new home, officials say."