Mail carrier attacked by turkeys needed a new hip

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — It is a neighborhood of restored antique houses and tree-lined streets. No wonder the turkeys like the area around Huron Avenue so much.

“Well, they’ve been around probably for the last ten years and the numbers have definitely increased,” said Charles Krueger, who’s lived in the area since 1998. “It’s kind of a new thing... the attacks.”

The attacks went high profile two weeks ago when mail carrier Eddie Mitchell was accosted by two turkeys as he began his route.

“There’s usually three of them,” Mitchell said. “I don’t know where the third one was.”

Three of them as in, three bad news birds that, behaviorally, seem to stand out from the flock.

Mitchell tried evasive action.

“I just wanted to get to my truck,” he said. “That’s what I’m trying to do.”

But he never made it. The two turkeys flew at him, forcing Mitchell to drop to the ground.

“I could not stand up,” Mitchell recalled.  “I couldn’t feel anything, I wasn’t really in pain, I just could not stand up. All the cars started pulling over. People came out of their houses, shooing the turkeys away. Two days later, I got surgery.”

That’s right: surgery. When Mitchell fell, he badly injured his right hip — so much so that it needed replacement. He’s now recovering from that surgery at his home in Weymouth.

“I walk seven miles a day,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll be working for a long time.”

When Mitchell does get back, he’ll be met with a new policy on turkeys.

“They tell us now, as soon as you see them get back in your truck and drive away to another street,” he said.

Mitchell plans to go one step further. He’s first going to drive around the neighborhood to see where the “bad actors” are.

One mail carrier told Boston 25 News that turkeys attacking postal carriers is nothing new around Huron Avenue. In fact, he’s convinced the birds target mailmen and women.

Eddie Mitchell is convinced of that, too.

“They chase all the mailmen around,” he said. “They chase our trucks, they peck at the wheels of our trucks.”

And now, apparently, they’re pecking at people.

“They can fly 30 miles an hour, that’s all I know,” said Mitchell. “It was horrifying when they flew at my face.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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