Tough Turkey: Group wants wild bird introduced in Nova Scotia

A group of hunters is campaigning to have Nova Scotia introduce wild turkeys to our province.

Rick Hill with the Truro Struttin' Gobblers told NEWS 95.7's The Rick Howe Show it has been done successfully in other areas of North America, including Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec.

“To my knowledge there has been no negative impact on any domestic animals, or fruits and vegetables,” said Hill.

Fishing and game associations have been trying for years to bring wild turkeys to Nova Scotia.

In 2001, the Nova Scotia chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation submitted a proposal to the province, which was rejected in 2004. Groups opposed to the idea included associations in the agricultural sector.

Wildlife biologist Bob Bancroft said, while studying the proposal, the province's wildlife division sent a biologist to Maine to investigate their habitat.

“It was determined that in fact, a certain portion of Nova Scotia — the Annapolis Valley for example — would be a pretty fine habitat,” he explained. “When that recommendation went through to government back then, the government listened to the farmers who were a little worried about it and ended up nixing the whole thing.”

Turkeys eat a wide variety of foods, including berries and leaves, and Bancroft said they're not adverse to sampling farmer's crops.

He believes their introduction would create competition with other animals for food sources, but not to the extent that any species would be wiped out.

There's also a potential health risk for pheasants and grouse but it has been assessed as being low.

Bancroft told HalifaxToday.ca, the 2001 proposal for introducing wild turkeys involved a plan where 50 adults a year for four years would be released into good candidate areas, but that comes with a small risk of disease. 

Another option would be to hatch eggs.

“Turkeys learn from adult turkeys … by hatching eggs and eventually letting them go, you might have less chance of disease, but you might end up with some pretty dumb turkeys who don't have their parents to show them how to get around.”

If an introduction happened in Nova Scotia, it could be at least a decade before the population is high enough to have a hunt, and that's assuming it works.

“They've got to get established, they've got coyotes to contend with,” explained Bancroft. “They might not take. Decades ago they tried to put caribou back into Nova Scotia without realizing there's a parasite that the deer carry they're vulnerable to. Introductions can fail.”

There's also a possibility wild turkeys could eventually migrate here on their own. 

They have made their way from Maine into New Brunswick, but Bancroft said, because only a narrow strip of land attaches Nova Scotia to the rest of Canada, that could take a while and they might find it challenging to get across the Tantramar Marshes.

He said there's also been some non-government sanctioned releases of wild turkeys, they occasionally get reports of people seeing them around the province.

“There may be a population while we still talk about whether we introduce them or not,” said Bancroft.