State Wildlife Officials Trying to Catch Mentor Turkey

The Mentor turkey's appearances along Johnnycake Ridge Road may soon be a thing of the past.

Officials from the Ohio Wildlife Division have made two unsuccessful attempts at catching the turkey called "Mr. Gobbles" by a family whose property the animal frequents.

Lake County Wildlife Officer Jason Keller said the division initially decided to leave the turkey alone because it mostly stayed in the driveway of Mona Cramer. However, the turkey began walking into traffic more frequently in the past month, prompting Keller to declare its presence a public safety concern.

"I don't want to see anything bad happen to the turkey," he said, "and I don't want to see someone get rear-ended after they have to slam on their brakes.

"The optimal thing would be to catch the turkey and relocate it where there is a viable food source and plenty of other turkeys."

Five or six other Wildlife workers accompanied Keller on Thursday in an attempt to catch the turkey. On Friday, two workers tried. Neither approach worked.

"It either flew up onto a roof or just kept walking away from us," Keller said of the turkey. "It wouldn't let us surround it."

Keller denied speculation that the attempts to catch the turkey were in response to the threat of a lawsuit from an angry motorist.

Keller said he would "go back to the drawing board" to figure out a way to lure the turkey away. He said the Wildlife Division nor the city has the resources to spend too many hours trying to catch it, but he hopes that "harrassing it" may prompt it to leave the area in favor of a wooded area.