(La Porte County, IN) - After quickly becoming like a pet, a fully grown turkey hanging out at a La Porte County home for several days apparently has returned to the wild.

 

Diane Spoljoric said it was kind of fun having the turkey around but also a hassle from cleaning up droppings the bird left after venturing onto the front porch and back porch of her home in the 3100 block of N. 400 West.

 

Her husband, Bob, seemed kind of sad, though, about the bird vanishing after quickly becoming attached to it.  Among the things he did was film the turkey in his yard with his three-year old granddaughter on the couple’s five acre spread just north and west of the La Porte city limits.  He also raved about things like seeing the turkey perched on top of a cardboard box filled with discarded materials on the front porch.

 

Spoljaric said he even named the turkey “Patrick.”

 

“My husband’s probably heartbroken,” she said.

 

Mr. Spoljaric spotted the healthy looking turkey in his yard on June 2.  They were not sure if the turkey was wild or belonged to someone like a farmer so Mrs. Spoljaric advertised the bird on a La Porte radio station segment called Pet Patrol. Pet patrol is for lost pets and her hope was the owner would hear the segment and contact her to claim the bird.

 

She never received any calls.

 

Spoljaric said she strongly believes the male turkey was domestic because of how tame it acted around humans. 

 

Aside from his occasional porch visit, the turkey stayed outside but close to the house most of the time.

 

Mrs. Spoljaric said the bird was last seen during the afternoon on Saturday by her husband in the middle of their yard after they returned from an overnight camping trip in Michigan near Buchanan.

 

A few hours later, the bird was nowhere to be found.

 

“Hopefully, he wandered off to bring joy to others,” she said.

 

Despite the good moments, Mrs. Spoljaric said she’s glad the bird is no longer around mostly because she doesn’t have to worry any more about her dogs possibly doing harm to it.  They were put on a leash whenever they were let outside to protect the turkey, which did run with its wings flapping once when spooked by the dogs.

 

“I didn’t want nothing bad to happen to him, but I did not want it either. So, you can have feelings both ways,” she said.