Several turkeys have been sighted inside Buffalo Land Provincial Park in the past few days but government officials don’t seem to know how they got there.

Ron Ryder, communications officer for the Department of Environment, said nobody in the department knows anything about the release of turkeys into the wild.

“There are no wild turkeys we know of in the wild. No permit was issued to release them and nobody has applied for a permit. If they are out there, somebody has done this without authorization.”
Kenny Chaisson, manager of Buffalo Land Provincial Park, said there definitely are at least a couple of turkeys in the park, but he doesn’t know where they came from.

Mr Chaisson contacted officials from Fish and Wildlife but hasn’t heard back from them yet. An employee who feeds the animals in the park doesn’t know how the turkeys got there either.
“I wonder whether somebody just dropped the things off,” Mr Chaisson said.
The previous Conservative government had planned to introduce wild turkeys to the Island in 2006.

The plan was delayed following concerns from blueberry growers and other farmers. The growers wanted to wait for the results of a study done by the University of Maine regarding the impact of wild turkeys on blueberry crops.
The issue was raised late last month when Georgetown/St Peter's MLA Mike Currie asked Environment Minister George Webster about that study.

Mr Webster told Mr Currie he would find out if a study was done and what the results were, and report it to the legislature.

“We have had no discussion within my office. I’ve had no requests that I’m aware of since we came into office 10 months ago, to import (wild turkeys)," Mr Webster said.
Mr Webster would not say if he would introduce the species if the study reported that turkeys would not affect the blueberry crop.

“I would never commit to that here. I would have to see what the ramifications were ... if it’s going to destroy a crop or have some other significant negative impact on the environment or wildlife here," Mr Webster said.