On April 17, Ithaca College was met with an unexpected visitor in the Circle Apartments, raising many concerns over students’ relationship with roaming wildlife. A turkey wandered around several apartments, interacting with students and even going into a building. 

Wild animals that roam into a space and stay there for extended periods, causing slight damage, can be considered a nuisance animal under the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation guidelines. Ernie McClatchie, associate vice president of facilities at IC, said a turkey would not traditionally be classified as a nuisance animal and that IC encourages animals to roam on campus. 

“We would consider things causing damage to be nuisance animals,” McClatchie said. “Under that, I would say mice, squirrels or something like a beaver. … Turkeys are not very common.”

Facilities mostly deal with smaller animals inside both residential and academic buildings. McClatchie said that in his time at IC, he has never seen a report about students interacting with a turkey. 

“We don’t have any specific reports about [these] interactions,” McClatchie said. “[The turkey] was closer to people than it normally would [be]. … We have most concerns about geese being aggressive on pathways and stuff like that.” 

After seeing the animal in his front yard, junior Alexander Blakely quickly grabbed his film camera and snapped some film photos.

“There is something very fun about absurdity in life,” Blakely said. “I think it’s important to document every moment. … When you see something absurd, something people aren’t used to, it makes people think, like ‘Why is there a turkey in Circles?’” 

The behavior of the turkey was noted by students to be very social. It wandered closer to students’ apartments than expected, was away from the flock and was not scared of being confronted. 

“It was the chillest animal I’ve ever met,” Blakely said. “I got up extremely close to it, and it didn’t back away at all.”

The turkey became relevant again April 21 when a video appeared on the Barstool Ithaca Instagram page. The eleven-second reel begins with a turkey flying from a Circles bathroom counter onto the light fixture above. Numerous voices can be heard laughing hysterically as they beg him to get down.

“Oh my god,” the person filming said in the viral video. “Gurt, Gurt get down!”

The video only had the caption “New roommate for Circles apartments” and referred to the turkey as “Gurt.”

The video gained 1,380 likes and 23.8 thousand views in six days. Watching the video for the first time, McClatchie muttered disapproving words under his breath.

“Yeah, that’s definitely not good,” McClatchie said. “This unfortunately sounds like, to me, someone led it into their residence, then used the opportunity to take some photos.”

While the comment section is mostly made of jokes surrounding the name given to the turkey, many students who reposted the video have expressed concern over the animal’s safety. 

McClatchie said the college’s guidelines for keeping animals out of residential buildings are present for valid reasons, and viral videos like this can be misleading. 

“These are wild animals,” McClatchie said. “We should not encourage wild animals to be brought into residences, where people could be hurt. … We are lucky [that] we can see these animals on a daily basis, but they are not meant for interactions.”

McClatchie expressed that while it is a smaller animal, a turkey can cause serious property damage while inside a home. 

“A turkey could fly around in a house when suddenly it hits a sprinkler,” McClatchie said. “Now we’re flooding the building because of a turkey.” 

Circles staff sent out a message to all residents at 7 p.m. April 21 titled, “Help Save Gurt the Turkey (not spam) (we wish we were joking).” The graphic was designed as a missing poster featuring an image of the turkey from the viral video. 

“Have you seen this Turkey?” the graphic stated. “Seeing a turkey this close is not normal behavior and having them in your apartment is not safe for you or the turkey. … [ResLife and Public Safety] will work with a wildlife conservation group to get him back to his family.” 

The email brought this directly to the attention of several residents who did not previously know of the situation. Junior Em Taber said she was shocked the situation escalated this much.

“I was baffled because what I’d heard from my friends was this seemed very innocent,” Taber said. “It was sad to hear that someone had turned a moment of joy [seeing the turkey] into animal endangerment.”

The Circles staff declined to comment. In an email sent April 24, the same Outlook account updated the public that the turkey was safely relocated.

“Thank you for your cooperation with turkey,” Circles Staff said via email. “I was told that she was likely hanging around Circles looking for a spot to make a nest for spring!”

Because the turkey has been carefully relocated, McClatchie said students should be mindful of how they interact with wildlife on campus.

“If they are causing concern, or it is abnormal, contact [facilities] or public safety to evaluate the situation,” McClatchie said.