Village officials in North Aurora were saddened to learn last week that a wild turkey known as Randi – who had become a local attraction and a “mascot of sorts” – was killed around mid-morning March 15 while crossing Randall Road near its intersection with Mooseheart Road/Orchard Road.
A little more than a month ago, the village’s Public Works Department installed a crossing sign near the site with a silhouette of a turkey and the words “Wild Turkey Xing” to alert motorists of the habits of the wild turkey who moved into the area many months ago.
Village President Mark Gaffino brought up the idea of putting up the sign at a village board meeting on Feb. 5 and expressed regret that the bird lost her life barely over a month after the warning sign had been installed.
“The turkey that had been named Randi because she was always seen around Randall Road was hit by a vehicle around 9:30 last Friday morning,” Gaffino said on Tuesday. “Our local police reported it to me through an email.”
He said people saw the dead turkey and that it was taken off the road.
“The police sent out the community service department to pick her up,” he said.
Gaffino said many people had reported seeing Randi over the past several months and there were a number of Facebook postings about the turkey.
“Randi cut across the road many times over the past six months and she became sort of a mascot of sorts,” Gaffino said. “Last fall was when she really started to gain some notoriety as more local people learned about her. It was a wild animal and so I guess something like this was inevitable, but I still feel bad about it. I’m an animal person myself and it was sad that this happened.”
The recently erected turkey crossing sign which cost the village $272 remains on the east side of northbound Randall Road. Officials knew the sign might not be permanent since the turkey, if it survived, might have chosen to migrate somewhere else.
Gaffino said at the present time, he has no information regarding the sign’s future. Earlier this month, Gaffino acknowledged the sign would likely be removed eventually once Randi left the scene, and if there were no more wild turkeys seen in the area.
“I have informally mentioned to some people that maybe we could take the sign down but have some kind of memorial for Randi put in its place,” Gaffino said. “Maybe we’ll do something different but I’m not sure where we’ll go from here. This was something we did for fun and didn’t affect anyone negatively in the village. My guess is we won’t leave the sign up but maybe there will be some kind of remembrance.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.