Brampton residents can’t seem to get away from a defiant fowl – a large wild turkey – that has run afoul in the city’s Mountainash Road area.
In a YouTube video aptly titled “Brampton man gets harassed by wild turkey,” an innocent pedestrian is filmed as the bird pursues him down a residential sidewalk.
Aaron Aldaz shot the video, which has now been viewed thousands of times. He told CTV News Toronto that he spotted his neighbour being trailed by belligerent bird from an upstairs window.
“What is it doing here? That was my first thought,” Aldaz said with a laugh. “My mom saw it in the morning and it didn’t attack (her) but when that man was walking by, it was chasing him, got bigger and started to attack him.”
After trying to steer away from the bird’s path, the man appears to grab a stick from a nearby lawn but the turkey seems relatively unfazed. The man is only rescued when a passing car pulls up, honks and offers him an escape.
According to residents, the bird has been lurking in the Mountainash Road neighbourhood for more than a week and remains on the loose.
“Yesterday I was just walking right here in this driveway and it chased us. It was running after us,” resident Harpreet Dhillon said.
The bird is apparently fearless, showing up at resident’s back doors and chasing after anything in its path, residents say.
“There was a kid coming home from school it was chasing the little kid,” another resident Gurjot Singh said.
Some have suggested that one of the neighbours may have fed the bird, causing it to stick around.
Brampton Animal Services warned residents against feeding any wild animals and said anyone who comes face-to-face with the bird should be cautious.
With files from CTV News Toronto's Scott Lightfoot.
