A gang member recently broke into a Warwick residence, proceeded to trash and flood the home, prompting responses from several city and state enforcement agencies, before being released to find his posse.

Nancy Page, of Algonquin Drive, left her home around 1 p.m. on April 20 to go to her church and help with their upcoming yard sale. When she returned home a little after 5 that afternoon, angelic white doves weren’t waiting for her.

This unexpected intruder trotted differently than most, for it was a wild turkey. And it really ruffled the feathers of the two homeowners.

“When I came home I hit the button to open my garage door, and it went up about five inches and then stopped. I hit the button again and the door went down, I did this about two or three times and realized it wasn’t going to open for me,” said Nancy. “I hit the other button for my husband’s side of the garage, and that opened. I parked the car, got out and the garage felt like a sauna. I then realized there was water pouring through the ceiling where the motor is for the door opener. The garage was flooded, and water had gone into our newly refinished family room and bathroom downstairs.”

Nancy realized that the water was coming from the main bathroom upstairs above the garage. Believing that a pipe had broken, she ran upstairs to assess the situation. What she saw made her chicken out.

“When I rounded the corner there was a turkey standing on my bathroom vanity,” she said, still exasperated. “My first instinct was to just close the door. I didn’t notice any water or anything else, I just didn’t process the fact that there was a turkey in there, it didn’t register that it wasn’t a pipe and there’s a turkey.”

Turkeys are a familiar neighbor to Nancy and her husband, Daniel Peres, who have seen some big ones in their yard. After closing the door to give the bird privacy, she started to take action.

“I went back downstairs thinking ‘Who do I call about this?’ I ended up calling 911 and the nice lady said what is your emergency and I told her I have water pouring through my garage ceiling and there’s a turkey in my bathroom,” said Nancy. “Her response was “What?” and that was the response I got from everyone.”

While turkeys are not known as great aviators, they can fly and do so each day to roost in trees. Over short distances, turkeys can reach speeds of up to 55 miles per hour. They can weigh up to 24 pounds, and become ungainly projectiles in the air.

“It crashed through and broke a second story window, and we have several picture windows in the house that would have made more sense to me for the turkey to fly into,” said Nancy.

According to the police report, when officers and firefighters arrived within 10 minutes after Nancy’s call, they found an inch of standing water in the garage and living room, with water still flowing.

“It was one of the rescue workers who went upstairs and figured out that the turkey, in the process of destroying the bathroom, had turned on the hot water faucet,” said Nancy. “The bathroom was trashed, it was filled with feathers and turkey poop and so was the sink, so that’s how the water backed up.”

The fireman found the main water valve in the house and turned it off. The Department of Environmental Management was also called in, and Environmental Officer Anthony Esposito arrived on scene.

Esposito geared himself up for the takedown, putting on necessary equipment such as thick gloves, a raincoat, and safety glasses. He then spoke with officers on scene to come up with a plan. Using a noose like device, he went in and captured the bird.

“It was quite an unusual sight, you don’t very often see turkeys in people’s bathrooms,” said Esposito. “This is the first time I’ve ever had to extract a turkey from a residence, and I’ve been with the state for 12 years, with two years in enforcement.”

The turkey was taken outside, released, and was able to run from the property without any signs of injury.

“I feel bad due to the damage they experienced, but it’s great that the bird was unharmed, and it seemed like it wanted to get out of there,” he said.

Cops said there was no additional fowl play.

Nancy has contacted her insurance provider, Amica, to begin the process of filing the claim. After being contacted, the cleanup provider Servpro was sent to the house at 10 p.m., and stayed until about 2 a.m. cleaning up the mess and setting up fans to dry the drenched home.

“Everyone was very nice and took me seriously even though it was a very silly story,” said Nancy of those who’ve assisted her so far. “I have no idea what the cost of the turkey visit will be. That’s going to be a very interesting number, to see how much this turkey is going to cost us.”

While unsure of the reason for the break in, Nancy has her own theories.

“I don’t know if it’s because of the awful winter we had, but it seems like they’re very aggressive, and I would say to just watch out,” she said. “We’ve seen many more this year.”

While the incident was an inconvenience, Nancy is learning that when life throws giblets at you, make gravy.

“No one got hurt, not even the bird got hurt, which is amazing as it went through the window,” she said. “But it is a funny story and it’s been nice to bring some enjoyment to people’s day.”

Editor’s note: Nancy took a video of the birds release which can be viewed on the Beacon Facebook page.