Jul 30, 2008 6:52 am US/Eastern
Wild Turkey Attacks Woman In Highland Park
HIGHLAND PARK (KDKA) ―
A woman running in Highland Park survived an unusual attack.
It wasn't by a mugger, but by a turkey.
Rachel McCurdy says it happened on Friday.
"I noticed alongside the road a little baby turkey. As soon as I saw it, my instincts told me (to) get to the other side of the road - its mother's going to be around," she said.
It was then - along Lake Drive around the bend from the swimming pool - when she says a turkey attacked.
"The next thing I know I just got hit from the side. Two claws went into my hat - ripped the hat right off of my head," McCurdy recalled.
She tried to use the hat to scare the bird off.
"I caught my hat as it was flying down and knocked at it and I ran off to the other side of the road thinking that would be it and it came running after me and I flew down the road screaming like a little kid," she said.
The turkey chased her about 50 feet.
McCurdy figured it was a female turkey protecting her young, but Henry Kacprzyk at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium says that may not be the case.
"I would guess it was a male turkey," he said. Kacprzyk thinks a female turkey was nearby.
"The male had interest in breeding. This time a year they'll breed again and it's possible he was interested in breeding and this person got in between," he explained.
Kacprzyk says males have both talons and spurs to use in attacks.
"You're talking about an 18 - to 20 - pound bird, a lot of force behind it - males ,just like in a cock fight, they will come down on each other and sometimes they'll come down on a human," he said.
"I mean I could still feel its claws in my head a couple hours later," McCurdy said.
Fortunately, McCurdy did not need to go to a doctor, but after this experience, she's going to avoid that part of the park.
"I mean I felt it going into my head and I could feel like the wind from its wings trying to keep itself up," McCurdy said.
She wonders what would have happened if it attacked a child and wants people to know about it.
Kacprzyk says it's very unlikely to happen again.
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