Wild turkeys and their poo cause problems for Montreal daycare

The playground at Domaine St-Sulpice, a daycare in northern Montreal, is usually filled with waddling toddlers, but lately the space has been gobbled up by an unwelcome visitor: the wild turkey.

And not just one of them. A flock of the birdshave taken up residence and toilet in the yard, covering it with their excrement and wobbling around like they own the place.

"It was funny at first, but now it's time for it to end," said one mother, picking up her children at the publicly funded daycare on Antoine-Dat Street in Montreal's Ahuntsic neighbourhood Wednesday evening.

WATCH | Stubborn wild turkeys take over Montreal daycare's yard:

Stubborn wild turkeys take over Montreal daycares yard

2 years ago

Duration 2:00

A Montreal daycare is under siege by a group of stubborn wild turkeys that have taken over the tree in the yard. The daycare has tried all manner of methods to kick the turkeys out, but the feathered flock keeps coming back.

The turkeys' presence for the past month and a halfhas restricted the children's area of play, saidJosie Bouffard, a child educator at Domaine St-Sulpice.

But the biggest problem is the poo. Every morning, Bouffard and her colleagues collect about four litres of turkey excrement to prevent the children from touching it.

"It's a big, big problem," Bouffard said in an interview with CBC News. "The children cannot touch that and the children, they toucheverything."

Wednesday evening, on a reporter's visit to the daycare, it's clear the turkeys have claimed it astheir eminent domain. Two linger high on branches above; two more are on some grass near the road, unbothered by the coming and going of parents and their kids.

"They've adopted the place," another parent says in passing.

The daycare employees have tried all manner of things to keep the turkeys out. They've spread wolf urine, set up bright lights, even installed an ultrasonic animal repellent.

But the fowl keep coming back and the daycare says it's being given the runaround by different levels of government.

First, it asked the city of Montreal for help, which then referred it to Quebec's Wildlife Ministry, which then referred it back to the city.

"We just want somebody to pick them up and put them far, far away. That's it! We don't want the turkeys anymore," Bouffard said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville said borough officials recommended the daycare reach out to the SPCA for help.

Brian Stevens, a pathologist at theCanadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, an organization monitoring the health of wildlife populations, saysthough any animal's excrement can present health risks if ingested by humans, they are relatively low.

The birds have also so far avoided the effects of avian flu, Stevens said.

"Turkeys are a species that doesn't carry a lot of diseases that are a big concern of people," he said. "If this wasanother species, like songbirds, there has definitely beenconcerns with songbirds passing salmonella on."

More wild turkey in urban areas

Tadeusz Splawinski,abiologistat the Canadian Wild Turkey Federation,toldCBC News earlier this year that more and more wild turkeys are ending up in urban settingsand causing problems for humans.

Splawinski said wild turkeys thrive in suburban areas because there is easy access to food and few predators to keep them at bay. They're able to scrounge for nuts in people's gardens, come across bird feeders outside people's homes and search through garbage cans, he said.

And when people feed them, they'll stick around for even longer, he warned.

Turkeys and humans don't necessarily live in harmony, though.Many turkeys have been spotted charging at cars, windowsand even people.

"We could see more and more conflicts between humans and these birds," Splawinski said.

As for Bouffard, she hopes that with the forecast snowstorm this weekend, the turkeys will finally retreat.

"Maybe after Christmas " she said wistfully.