'It Was Huge:' Wild Turkey Gets Stuck Inside Car Bumper In Paramus, NJ
PARAMUS, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Some may think of Paramus, New Jersey as a shopping mecca, but it's Native American name literately means "land of the wild turkey."
One driver recently experienced that first hand.
Alexandra Carmel is pregnant with twins and also has a 2-year-old named Emma running around at home, CBS2's Meg Baker reports. Last week there was something she could not avoid while driving on Route 4 East.
"All of a sudden, I see this huge, huge turkey," she says.
Carmel says the wild turkey was sitting on the median near the Westfield Garden State Plaza mall. She was going about 50 mile per hour and could not switch lanes to avoid hitting it.
"You don't expect an animal like this to be in the middle of a busy highway. The last thing you can think of is a turkey is going to walk across the road," she says.
If she had swerved, she could have caused a crash on the busy highway.
The mom-to-be says she pulled into her driveway and got out to survey the damage, not realizing the bird was stuck inside her bumper.
"We just saw the tail and two legs, and the rest of the huge bird was inside the car," she says.
Her husband drove the car over to the Paramus police station. Feathers mark the spot where an officer, who's also an avid hunter, was able to pry the dead turkey out.
"He said it was huge," she says.
Baker spoke with professional wildlife expert John Nesti, who said turkeys are more active this time of year because of mating season.
"Right now, all they have on their mind is love," he said. "They're extremely powerful animals. People don't realize turkeys can be dangerous."
"The only thing I thought is thank god it's not a deer," Carmel says.
Carmel says she's thankful she made it home safely that night. And the one thing she's not craving during this pregnancy? You guessed it... turkey.
The radiator cost the family more than $800 to fix.
