Wild Turkey Tears Up A Sacramento-Area Dentist Office

FAIR OAKS, CA — Donna McDonald, the office manager at the Gregory Hailey DDS dentist office on Greenback Lane in Fair Oaks, often sees a group of turkeys hanging out behind the office, but few as large as one she saw roaming around last week.

And that's just the one that stormed through the window of the office as McDonald worked there alone, she told The Sacramento Bee.

McDonald told the newspaper the large bird smashed through the window of the patient consultation area. At first, she thought it was an earthquake. Then when she saw the turkey, thought maybe it had been hit by a car.

Greg Grimm of the Gold Country Wildlife Rescue has another idea of why the turkey destroyed the dentist office.

“Now the other thing that birds sometimes do when they see windows is that they see their reflection in the window, and especially if it’s during mating season, they may think it’s a competitor for their mate,” Grimm told "Good Day Sacramento."

No matter how it got in, when inside, the turkey caused quite a bit of damage before someone from the Gold Country rescue group was called to remove it.

“It clawed up multiple walls to where we’re gonna have to repaint in there," McDonald told The Bee. "Some of the glass that came in cut the dental chairs ... and we’ll need some deep cleaning.”

Getting the turkey out of there was a challenge, even for the experienced wildlife officer who responded, McDonald said.

“There was no wrangling this bird as an amateur," McDonald said. “I guess it’s mating season, and she doesn’t want to.”

The turkey is expected to be released back into the wild, and didn't look seriously hurt, the wildlife officer told McDonald.

Read more from The Sacramento Bee