These Turkeys Didn’t Stay for Dinner

Maybe the six wild turkeys that were found missing from a Northridge yard Thanksgiving morning knew that it was time to make themselves scarce. Or perhaps a holiday-minded thief couldn’t resist the idea of a turkey-naping on Turkey Day.

Police were unsure whether the birds, valued by owner Thomas Walsh at $50 apiece, fled on their own or were the victims of fowl play. However they left, all that remained was a trail of feathers from the man’s property to a nearby storm drain, Los Angeles Police Officer Richard Gray said.

“He was raising them, for what reason I don’t know,” Gray said. “They might have decided to leave because they knew what fate was in store for them.”

Walsh discovered that the birds were missing about 6 a.m. from his fenced-in back yard in the 8400 block of Wilbur Avenue, Gray said.

Walsh could not be reached for comment. A neighbor who lives two houses away said she was unaware that turkeys were being raised there.

“I’m aware he had some chickens and some roosters because I hear them at 5 o’clock in the morning,” Leonora Sastre said. “But we never saw any turkeys.”