'I lost a friend': Kenosha neighborhood mourns loss of 'Carl the Turkey'

 

KENOSHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Nothing fowl about it -- neighbors in Kenosha's Forest Park area got together Tuesday night, Dec. 7, to trade turkey talk after a beloved wild turkey was killed.

It might sound all tongue-in-cheek, but Carl the Turkey, as he was known, seemed to call this neighborhood home, and he did a lot of good for a lot of people, especially for one homebound senior.

Joe Kauzlarich turns 93 on Wednesday with a heavy heart.

"I lost a friend," said Kauzlarich, friend of Carl the Turkey.

Kauzlarich is homebound, and seeing Carl the Turkey out his window brought him joy.

"Well he came about four months back and he became my friend," said Kauzlarich. 

Love for a wild turkey…someone set this memorial down in remembrance of Carl the Turkey who called this #kenosha neighborhood home for the last six months. Carl was hit by a car on Pershing Blvd this afternoon and the people who live here are missing him. More @CBS58⁩ tonight pic.twitter.com/3wuqqPYw1T

— Michele Fiore (@michelehana) December 8, 2021

Carl fluttered from house to house. His presence made them smile.

"He was, he was very cute," said Wendy Powell. 

Powell first saw Carl in June on French Drive.

"And we're like a wild turkey, what the heck is a wild turkey doing in the middle of a neighborhood here?" Powell said. 

Carl gave this family a reason to be thankful before Thanksgiving. When their mom made it home from the hospital after a 23-day stay, Carl was there to greet her.

"Friendly little guy," said Kauzlarich. "He used to come up here by the house and you could look out the window and he'd be drinking water out just the fountain we got out here."

With all the heavy news going on, he was a source of happiness. 

Carl was hit by a car on Pershing Road Tuesday. The comments on social media now express sadness. 

"He would spend lots of time right in the middle of the road, and so you would have all kinds of people just stopping, looking and taking pictures and pulling over," said Powell.

While they were watching him, he was watching them, proving he wasn't chicken to cross the road.

"Anytime he saw like big trucks, he'd get right in the middle of the road, put all of his feathers up, and he'd do that every day," said Powell.

Tuesday night, neighbors got together at Shenanigans bar, trading stories.

Police responded to the scene of the accident around 12:30 p.m. Carl the Turkey was dead on the scene.