By DAVID TELLER
Staff Reporter
On its maiden voyage, the 22-passenger shuttle bus that the Cheney City Council approved the purchase of on March 24 for the Parks and Recreation Department has been temporarily disabled due to a wayward turkey.
Parks director Paul Simmons was driving the bus, which has the driver's compartment of a van, back to Cheney on May 21 after a day-long trip with a group of senior citizens to the San Juan Islands. It was about 4:30 p.m. He had just taken his foot off the accelerator on the Cheney-Tyler off ramp at Interstate 90 when he got a surprise.
“Out of nowhere this bird flies right in front of the bus,” Simmons said adding that the bird came from the side trying to fly across in the front of the van.
At first, Simmons said he didn't immediately know what it was, but said he heard a loud “thud.” He thought it might have been an owl hitting the bus. Some of the passengers were surprised and other slept through the impact.
Because large passenger busses and vans are top-heavy, Simmons said he avoided swerving, which might tip the vehicle on its side.
He pulled the bus over and examined the front of the van where he found a now-deceased wild turkey hen impaled in the City of Cheney sign just above the windshield on top of the driver's cab. He added that he was especially surprised in that he didn't think wild turkeys could fly.
At first, Simmons said people were a bit shocked, but quickly everyone started laughing. No one but the turkey was hurt in the incident.
The city's insurance provider, Washington Cities Insurance Authority, will cover the damage. WCIA executive director Lew Leigh said in an email that the losses caused by interaction with a wild animal in any one year are so few that the company does not statistically track the events. He added that every once in a while a deer will collide with a police car, for example, but the number is not statistically relevant.
Not being superstitious, Simmons agrees, saying it was a freak accident. He added that WCIA is still reviewing the claim, so he doesn't know the damage, but said the van is out of commission because the van's fuse box sits behind the sign panel where the turkey went through, leaving it exposed to weather and moisture.
Simmons just shakes his head. He said last winter the city had moose in town and had a few squirrels in the power lines of few years ago.
“Now we've got a turkey,” he added.
Cheney isn't the only place with wildlife run-ins and rarely do they end easily as is the case after an incident on State Highway 195 at Washington Road in the early morning of May 28 where a deer was hit by a small pick-up. Sgt. Dave Reagan of the Spokane County Sheriff's Office said animals, especially deer, that suffer broken legs or obvious head injuries don't always die instantly. Deputies at the roadside always euthanize animals with internal injuries. No one treats injured deer, and they present a danger to other motorists if they crawl back onto the roadway.
Reagan added that when possible, the animals are harvested by members of the Northwest Wildlife Council who then give the meat to local shelters. In many cases the meat is unusable and the carcass is left for the appropriate road maintenance crews to collect.
David Teller can be reached at [email protected]
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