Fowl news: Larry the turkey killed in traffic

A grouchy gobbler who stuck his neck out one too many times is being prayed over — three months after the Thanksgiving platter was put away.

A spokesman for the city confirmed yesterday that “Larry,” the curmudgeonly turkey who haunted the intersection of VFW Parkway and Baker Street in West Roxbury like a feathered Whitey Bulger holding court at the Old Colony Avenue rotary in South Boston, was killed in traffic Friday night.

A candle and a stuffed turkey were set out to memorialize the passing of the bumptious bird and social media star that died doing what he loved: strutting his stuff in traffic.

Larry, a feral bachelor, cemented the neighborhood’s pecking order when he turned up several weeks ago and began blocking traffic.

Area resident Hanna Griffiths, 31, suspects Larry found winging it between cars was preferable to taking his chances with coyotes in the nearby woods.

“I’m no turkey expert, but I think he had picked this spot as kind of being a refuge,” Griffiths said. “Before that he was hanging out in the neighborhood and there were four or five of them and they slowly started dropping in numbers until there was only him left. You were just kind of waiting for the inevitable. It’s sad to me that it ended this way. There were so many of us trying to get him relocated.”

Griffiths said Larry survived some hard times, including snowstorms and an injured foot.

“He could go from looking absolutely terrible to looking absolutely glorious,” she said. “He was looking great in his last days.”

Still, she said, “In the last week, he got really feisty and started going after cars. He definitely was on the fritz.”

Derek Rubinoff was one of the last people to see Larry alive at 6:45 p.m. Friday when he drove his son to a hockey game. On a return trip sometime after 7 p.m. he saw the carcass in the median strip.

Larry, he said, “had become our fixture of the neighborhood. It never bothered me, but people have been complaining that it was blocking traffic and even pecking at cars. Apparently, it was getting more aggressive.”

Said Griffiths, “I think people were annoyed in the moment, but people will feel nostalgic about his absence now.”

STAFF PHOTO BY MARK GARFINKEL; PHOTO, BELOW, COURTESY WBZ-TV R.I.P.: A toy stuffed turkey is seen at the intersection of VFW Parkway and Baker Street in West Roxbury. It was placed there yesterday to commemorate the death of a wild turkey known as Larry, below, that was struck by a car and killed Friday.