Massachusetts Mail Carrier (Photo : Twitter)
A Massachusetts mailman has to fight through a flock of turkeys instead of barking dogs as he completes his daily route walking door-to-door to deliver important letters and packages to homeowners and renters. The Cape Cod mail carrier always brings a pole to keep the wild turkeys away from him until he climbs back into his mail truck and then drives away from the big birds.
A video of five turkeys chasing a postman while completing his mail route was posted by the Cape Cod Wave earlier this month. It has since gone viral and has nearly 1 million YouTube views, according to Boston.
In the video clip the New England magazine asks the mailman how often he has to deal with the birds following him. He answers, "Every day."
Massachusetts' turkey population has skyrocketed in recent years, accoring to New York Daily News. This has made big gangs of them part of everyday life in the town of Falmouth.
The large birds have become a tourist attraction. Many interested people use their digital camera to snap a picture.
The wild birds have even acclimated themselves to the town's busy streets. In addition, humans have learned to share public space with them.
Local residents have noted that it is common for people to see up to 10 turkeys near the public library. A library assistant named Christine Lynch told Cape Cod Times that the winged animals are funny but the locals also protect them.
When the Mayflower ship arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620, future governor William Bradford noticed that there was a huge wild turkey population there, so the colonists started to harvest the fowl.
However, within time the large birds were over-hunted and the last one was shot in 1847. Then in 1972 biologists released 37 wild turkeys from New York into Massachusetts' forests.
Here is the video of the mailman-chasing turkeys:
