Wild turkey delights, creates havoc in NJ town: 'We love him but he's a little bit of a jerk'

we're going to begin with quite the story a turkey that's been terrorizing a South Jersey Community some call him Tom for reasons unknown others call him Fred but regardless of the name he has been the talk of this town and it sounds like for not all the right reasons he's known to run around town stop traffic scare people and even chase after them wild turkeys are no nuisance In the Garden State take a look all right New Jersey correspondent Trish Harman joins us live in dford now and Trish there's the turkey live the yes Brian s this is a live look of exactly what we are talking about this is the turkey it's in the middle of the road it has been in the middle of the road here for the past I don't know 3 to 5 minutes and there have been cars driving around it some are stopping some are beeping at him and he is just content to hang out here in the middle of the road and this happens all the time he's somewhat of a celebrity around here and there's a little bit of a discrepancy as to what the turkey's name is here we go yeah we're people are beeping trying to get him to get out of the road uh but the folks around here say this neighborhood just wouldn't be the same without him for the past 4 years Kim kyoki has had what many would consider an unusual morning routine at her home along callfield Avenue in depford I could sit on my front porch and say come on Fred breakfast time he'll come mosing on down the driveway this is Fred this good therapy for me she says peanuts are his favorite and bird seed cuz I enjoy seeing them every day I really do but Fred has been known to stop traffic along Clemens Bridge Road I could be inside my house here and I can hear I'm like uh oh Fred's in the street he's like the the town the mat mascot but he he does bother the cars He pecks the sides of the cars and across the street at dhy Motorsports it literally just freaking ran after me numerous instances of the turkey causing trouble have been caught on camera we love him but he's a little bit of a jerk here you can see him chasing down a customer he pecks at your car and just goes after you and if you run he runs also they call him Tom over here I know he has a couple other names but Tom the turkey just seems to fit while his Antics have gotten some attention his human companions hope he sticks around for a while and definitely hope he doesn't end up as a Thanksgiving meal when he's feeling extra frisky a lot of people like to say I'm going to put him on my my dinner table and eat them but we don't like we don't like talk like that the people around here have definitely grown fond of Tom Fred he's out of sight now I think he's down the street a little bit farther now de does have a local ordinance that prohibits feeding Wildlife including turkeys in parks and Township owned land turkeys as we have seen can get very aggressive especially during mating season now years ago in South Jersey wild turkeys were practically obsolete but due to Wildlife restoration efforts there are about 20,000 wild turkeys now throughout the Garden State and some of them clearly have become come very well known we're live in depford New Jersey Trish Hartman Channel 6 Action News Sarah Brian oh he just needs a little attitude adjustment I think what did they say I love him but he's a little bit of a Jerk It's My it's the favorite thing I've heard all day that sums it up right there tremendous Trish thank you so much