Can Staten Island learn to love its ‘nuisance’ wild turkeys?

The New York borough's birds have been known to ruffle feathers, but some residents say they're simply part of life

A decades-long feud between the people of New York's Staten Island and a flock of wild turkeys appears no closer to ending. The birds have been called a nuisance" and a safety issue". A resident has even filed a lawsuit which claimed the turkeys caused her to injure her shoulder.

Hundreds of wild turkeys live in Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of New York City, with many of them being traced to a woman unleashing her pet birds in 1999. Standing 3ft tall and with a top running speed of 25mph, wild turkeys have been known to stand in the way of traffic and sometimes peck at pedestrians.