Walk in and around the Staten Island University Hospital campus and what you’d see, is turkeys everywhere. It has been like this in Ocean Breeze for nearly a decade.
"It's like we don't even need to go to the zoo,” said, Tottenville resident Daniel Abraham.
Abraham is visiting his sister Sarah at the hospital and said, "driving in the other day I had to stop for like 45 seconds to let them go in front of me I had to honk one or two times to get them out of the way."
Abraham’s sister Sarah doesn't want to see the turkeys go. She said, "they are making me happy. I am in seclusion in here for five minutes and they are just tranquil. Look, they are not doing anything."
But, several city officials said the birds can't stay and, for the first time, hospital officials are on board too.
"I think it's a big development," said Councilman Steven Matteo. He said the hospital has agreed to allow The Department of Environmental Conservation onto its property to capture the birds. They'll be sent to an animal sanctuary upstate. The process starts this week.
“It's been a long 8 years but we are going to try to get rid of, relocate, and get rid of as many as we can off the grounds,” said Matteo.
Until now, removal efforts have been restricted to state owned land, so the turkeys on the hospital's property couldn't be moved.
"It's to a point now where the hospital has become concerned for the safety of our visitors and for our patients,” said Lou Tobacco, the Senior Director of External Affairs with the Staten Island University Hospital.
He said the birds are unsanitary, cause traffic issues, and sometimes are aggressive.
"We have recently got an uptick of complaints from some of our visitors of birds coming at them," said Tobacco.
He also said there is a safety risk because there have been times the birds blocked ambulances from getting to the emergency department.
A representative from PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, released the following statement: "It seems that steps were taken to find an appropriate new home for these turkeys, complete with safe and secure fencing, places to preen their feathers and roost, and access to food and water. Of course, deterring turkeys is always preferable to relocating them, so PETA recommends that property owners install high-flying predator kites and light-reflecting windmills, or use other humane methods to encourage unwelcome turkeys to move on to a more hospitable habitat."
"It's good that they are not just trying to execute them and get rid of the problem that way at least they are trying to be proactive about it," said Abraham.
He said he’ll miss the so called "troublesome turkeys," but officials said in a couple months most of them will be in their new home upstate.