Turkeys on UCSC campus multiplying, continue to terrorize students & staff

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, but students and staff on the UCSC campus see turkeys year-round. And word on the street is they likely won’t be leaving any time soon.

Move over banana slugs…another mascot is taking over Santa Cruz.

Just in time for Thanksgiving, there have been an increased number of turkey sightings.

“A lot of people feel like they have been seeing them more often so we do feel like there’s been a bit of an uptick in the number of turkeys roaming around.” says UCSC Director of New and Media Relations Scott Hernandez-Jason.

While the turkeys we encountered today were friendly ones, folks around campus say that isn’t always the case.

One turkey in particular who is now known as “Hank,” tends to be on the aggressive side.

“There’s this one mean one, I guess hank. And he’ll stand in the middle of the road and he’ll peck at tires and won’t let you get past,” says employee Suzanne Ziegler.

“They circle the car, they peck at the tires and they’ll just go round and round and the driver can’t get away,” says UCSC professor Bruce Thompson.

Thompson has heard stories from students saying the turkeys have delayed them up to 20 minutes because they would not move out of the way.

Hernandez-Jason says there are a few theories as to why they do that, “Whether they see the reflections and are packing at that, i don’t know whether it’s this sound that the cards are making, lots of ideas. We’re not quite sure what causes them to do that.”

There is not an exact count of how many call UCSC home. But Thompson, who has worked at the school for more than 25 years, says each year they seem to be multiplying. “Well I first noticed them about five years ago, there were just two of them or three of them and now there are at least 12.”

Even though these turkeys are becoming quite popular around campus, the school says there are no plans to change the mascot. “I think the banana slug is well loved, and I don’t think it’s in danger of being replaced by a turkey,” said Hernandez-Jason.

School officials also believe the turkeys have a sense of security on the campus. There is a no hunting policy in place, limiting their number of predators.