A pair of neighbors, he says, put feed out for the birds during the fall and winter, drawing them at time in droves. The big birds leave droppings all over the place, damage trees where they roost and pose a health hazard. In response, he and others have tried to get the neighbors to stop the feeding, to no avail, and now the issue has turned into a court battle.

Call it a dispute over how friendly urban dwellers should get with wild animals. Stuart says his neighbors have also started putting out feed for deer, drawing the four-legged animals into their Huntsville neighborhood as well.

“All we’re trying to do is put a stop to it. We’ve been trying to get them to stop this for five years,” said Stuart, whose full-time home is in Bountiful. The residents have talked to the one neighbor they say initiated the efforts “on numerous occasions. The sheriff’s office, animal control has talked to her. The city has talked to her.”

Stuart and two sets of neighbors — six people in all — filed suit in 2nd District Court in Ogden in April seeking a court order putting a stop to the feeding and now the case winds its way through the judicial system. They also seek damages of no less than $50,000.

Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

Particularly irksome for them is the fact that Huntsville officials haven’t taken more forceful action, though a town ordinance specifically prohibits feeding of turkeys, among other wild animals.

Stuart has repeatedly asked town officials why they don’t cite the turkey feeders, he said, “and I don’t get an answer.” If they did act, he thinks that might put an end to the feeding.

The defendants — Margot Smelzer, whose backyard partially abuts Stuart’s backyard, and a couple across the street from her, Kenith and Karoline Peterson — didn’t immediately respond to queries seeking comment, nor did their lawyer. But while acknowledging in their court response that they’ve fed turkeys — though not deer — they argue the plaintiffs don’t have a legitimate cause of action, among other things. The cases, they say, should be dismissed.

Stuart and his neighbors filed separate suits against Smelzer and the Petersons, levying the same charges. Smelzer initiated the feeding in the yard behind her house, Stuart maintains, and the Petersons over the years have helped her.

“As long as she continues to feed them, they’re going to show up,” Stuart said. “She feels sorry for the turkeys, sorry for the deer.”

Image supplied, Greg Stuart

He’s noted as many as 300 birds on occasion come to feed. They’ve damaged trees where they roost, left his yard and the roof of his home covered with droppings and also led to problems with the gutters on his house caused by accumulated feces.

“To protect their property from damage, Plaintiffs must continually scrape such feces from their roofs, decks and patios. Turkey feces has a noxious smell and removal of hardened turkey feces is extremely difficult,” read the lawsuits. “Since Defendants began feeding wild turkeys, Plaintiffs have removed buckets of feces from their roofs, risking bodily injury from slipping or falling from a ladder or roof as well as injury from exposure to the human pathogens turkey feces are known to carry.”

Officials from Huntsville and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, or DWR, have tried — with limited success — to contend with the feathery critters. Huntsville Mayor Richard Sorensen, while acknowedging the city’s wild animal ordinance, said it’s the DWR — not local officials — that has authority over wildlife. He also noted the impact to wild animals of the particularly tough winter of 2022-2023, which drew more hungry critters fighting for survival to the town than is normal.

“The town worked with Utah DWR for assistance with mitigation, and turkeys were trapped and removed several times throughout the long winter,” Sorensen said in an email to the Standard-Examiner. “Huntsville is planning to build some turkey traps to have in place for next winter so we can proactively assist DWR in removal in the future.”

He declined comment on the lawsuit as the litigation is ongoing but said DWR officials trapped and removed around 150 turkeys from the town last winter.

Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

Jim Christensen, the DWR’s northern region wildlife manager, wouldn’t get into specifics about turkey efforts in Huntsville but said the agency, generally speaking, gets involved in trapping and relocating wild animals when they become a nuisance. Over the past five years, DWR efforts throughout the Ogden Valley, including Huntsville, have led to the removal of more than 550 turkeys.

Though not weighing in on the court case, both Christensen and Faith Jolley, the DWR spokesperson, counseled against feeding wild critters. Among other things, feeding animals can create “public safety concerns,” foster spread of wildlife diseases and potentially harm the animals if they are given food not in their typical diets.

“Concentrating wildlife near inhabited areas can sometimes result in increased traffic accidents and other human/wildlife conflicts, including damage to private property,” Jolley said.

The 2nd District Court cases are in the preliminary stages and Judge Jason Nelson has yet to weigh in on the varied issues. Stuart, meantime, is getting exasperated.

“I’m shocked that this has continued for five years. There seems to be no end in sight,” he said.