Arkansas Turkey Trot: Turkeys Dropped Out Of Planes, Again; Activist Seeks Charges

YELLVILLE, AR — A low-flying pilot dropped live turkeys onto the 72nd Yellville Turkey Trot over the weekend and now the Federal Aviation Administration is looking into whether any laws or regulations were broken. The festival in northern Arkansas has featured a turkey drop for more than five decades, though sponsors in recent years have distanced themselves from the practice.

Several birds were dropped Saturday and then chased by festival-goers below. Rose Hilliard, a local animal rights activist, wants criminal charges filed against the pilot, who she said "terrorized" the birds and violated state laws against animal cruelty and animal abandonment.

Festival organizers didn't immediately return calls seeking comment Monday. (For more information on the turkey drop and other Across Arkansas stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

An FAA spokesman said Monday the agency was aware of the weekend flyover. In the past, the FAA hasn't intervened because the birds aren't considered projectiles.

Arkansas is one of the nation's top turkey-producing states, and the event — supposed to be a celebration of the bird — features a 5K run, music and dancing, as well as the Miss Drumsticks pageant, in which contestants are judged only on their legs.

The festival started a year after World War II as a complement to a turkey calling contest run by the local American Legion hall. During the first turkey drops, which helped the festival draw a crowd, the birds were dropped from the courthouse roof for people to chase, with some becoming pets and the others Thanksgiving dinner.

But many have blasted the turkey drop portion of the event as animal abuse, and the city's Chamber of Commerce has distanced itself from the tradition it once endorsed. Still, thousands emailed the chamber about doing more to protect the birds.

"Why don't you jump yourselves with no parachute. ... Think you'll like it?" one person wrote to the chamber Monday. Others used more colorful language.

By KELLY P. KISSEL, Associated Press

Photo credit: Jason Ivester /The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP; Josh Dooley/The Baxter Bulletin via AP