Most Alamedans love our wild turkeys that roam our streets, often using crosswalks to make their way across. Most people stop their cars to allow them to walk peacefully, and many of us stop to get photos of these popular feathered locals.
But one 38-year-old Alameda man is facing felony animal cruelty charges for allegedly hunting a wild turkey and shooting it to death with a .177 caliber BB gun near the 400 block of Pensacola Road on Alameda Point in August. Court records show he was booked into jail on December 17, after the case was filed, and bail was set at $50,000, according to a report in the Mercury News.
Police said the defendant, who has since bailed out and been released according to court records, lives about three-and-a-half miles from where the turkey was killed. The illegal hunting was reported to police and animal control by an eyewitness, who later identified the suspect from a photo lineup, police said.
Authorities collected the turkey carcass and took it to a veterinarian for a full necropsy before bringing the case to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, according to records quoted in the Mercury News story…