Fowl! 30-Pound Turkey Hits SUV
CARS.COM — You can grouse all you want, but at least you didn’t hit a turkey — that is, unless you’re the New Jersey family that encountered a 30-pound bird in northwest Indiana today. As the La Porte County Sheriff’s Office recounts, the avian altercation befell the Taraboczhia family of Emerson, N.J., as they traveled west from the University of Notre Dame.
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John Taraboczhia, the father, was driving with wife Corina, teenage son Ian and mother-in-law Maria Scrivanich in tow, according to local radio station WIMS. The family had just visited the school, where daughter Riana had been accepted, and were en route to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport when the feathered fracas ensued on U.S. Route 20. The 30-pound turkey reportedly flew (a rarity) into their rental car’s path, impaling the glass, rearview mirror, overhead console and all.
The family emerged with minor injuries, fortunately, but their gibletted guest did not. It’s unclear how fast the family was driving, but their rental SUV — a 2016 GMC Yukon, per WIMS — outweighed the turkey by at least 177 to 1. The bird stood no chance; it died on impact, the sheriff’s office said.
Poultry pileups are a bigger risk than you might think. The sheriff’s office warns that mating season for wild turkeys means they’re often on the move and “can be as hazardous as deer.” That season is generally in the spring, according to the National Wild Turkey Federation, though it can begin a few months earlier in certain states. So keep a lookout, drivers: Errant fowl is out there.
