In a quaint New Jersey town, one Butterball united locals after repeatedly slipping through the animal control’s fingers.
But the notorious West Orange, New Jersey, turkey — lovingly named “Turkules” — was finally captured on Tuesday after a weeks-long goose chase, devastating the fowl’s fan club.
The feathered fugitive united the town, becoming the one thing “that everyone could agree on,” said resident Gia Garcia. Instead of “arguing about politics,” everyone was unanimously invested in the wellbeing of Turkules.
The misbehaved bird was championed by locals who posted sightings of the elusive bird on social media and threw him a “Hometown Hero” celebration to fundraise for the Wildlife Conservation Charity.
“I’ll miss him a lot,” Garcia, the owner of Willow and Olivia dessert cafe, told The Guardian. “I’ll miss the daily reports on his sightings, I look forward to getting updates about him every day.”
The 3-foot tall gobbler became a local celebrity after successfully escaping the grasps of the animal authorities, enduring a tranquilizer dart hit straight to the breast, dangling amongst its plumes while on the run for weeks.
He even survived being struck by a vehicle, emerging from the accident “unscathed,” according to the town’s local news outlet “Tap Into West Orange.”
“He is resilient,” Garcia told The Guardian. “To see a turkey actively show a type of protective nature for that patch of land, and then for him to walk around with a tranq dart in him, I mean, that’s badass.”
When turkeys terrorize communities — trespassing on people’s front lawns or impacting traffic — state officials step in.
Turkules, however, was particularly hard to corral because he “tended to fly” more than normal wild turkeys, said Aaron Guikema, the state’s director of wildlife services at the Department of Agriculture.
Some locals, however, are convinced that this isn’t a goodbye, just a “see you later;” Turkules was allegedly relocated from West Orange earlier this year and eventually made his way back.
According to local West Orange media, the town’s mayor pardoned Turkules, who was not euthanized, before he was relocated to an undisclosed location. Rumor has it, he’s still a citizen of the Garden State.
“It’s very sad. He has given the community near and far a reason to come together to hear of his adventures and determination,” one resident, who was named only as Susan, told The Guardian.
“But he is a gangster. He will make his way back. He always does.”