Pile of feathers suggest Turk is no more
He belonged to everybody and he belonged to no one.
That’s how Avery Maxwell described Turk, the feral turkey who showed up without explanation in the Calgary community of Ramsay in late March 2019.
When he presumably died around Thursday or Friday, he had found a place in the heart of the entire city — or at least of those with a Twitter or Facebook account.
Maxwell helped run a Facebook fan page for the bird. They kept tabs on Turk’s movements around Calgary’s inner city, but also advocated for his safety and well-being through a strict policy of leaving him alone.
But before long, he began to get attention on social media as posts about the bird spread around Calgary. Turk became a Twitter star and was even featured in several stories in the national media.
Legally, he was a wild animal who was not to be fed or harassed. But as a city bird, he held an advantage.
“He had more protections inside city limits than if he lived outside the city,” said Maxwell.
Turk eventually wandered from Ramsay into the Beltline, which really boosted his popularity.
When traffic died down due to the COVID -19 lockdown, he found his way to Bridgeland and spent a lot of time hanging around a seniors centre in that area.
Maintenance staff and citizens at the Columbus Manor seniors centre first suspected something had happened to Turk on Friday morning when they spotted feathers on their property.
Maxwell said another member of the Facebook group, wildlife expert Liz Blake, found enough feathers that would suggest Turk had suffered fatal injuries.
Meanwhile, Turk’s legacy will live on in a fundraising effort spearheaded by his fans.
T-shirts, mugs, pins and more featuring Turk were sold, raising more than $4,000 for the Calgary Food Bank and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation.