Canada: Turkeys are coming to Nova Scotia, whether we want them or not

Turkeys are coming. They crossed the American border shortly after being introduced into northern Maine two decades ago and have been trotting and gobbling their way through southern New Brunswick ever since. Wild turkeys are a common sight now in parts of Westmorland County and there have been sightings of them at Point de Bute, which looks over the Missaguash River on the Tantramar Marsh that serves as the Nova Scotia border. “Oh yeah, they’re coming to Nova Scotia. I don’t know when, but that strip of forest (on a rise along the Tantramar Marsh) is not a barrier to movement for them,” said Graham Forbes, a professor at the University of New Brunswick who has been studying their expansion in that province. “The winters there are relatively mild. It’s just a question of time.” Pardoning the pun, turkeys have long been a hot topic in Nova Scotia. In 2001 this province’s chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation submitted a proposal to introduce them here. The parent ...