It still amazes me that decisions keep being made to introduce animals where they don't belong. I guess some just won't learn from history. Every time we try to get rid of something we think is a problem, it just knocks thing out of whack and we end up with a worse problem.
Some local hunting club petitioned the Fish and Game department to allow this. Now the govt. gets money from issuing turkey tags. Problem is that most of the turkeys hang out on private property and the hunters can't trespass, though some do sell access for hunters during the season.
The introduction of this pest not only disrupted an already endangered ecology, the new food source caused an explosion in the mountain lion, bobcat and coyote populations, which impact the cattle ranchers and the exurbanites who want to raise llamas or wrinkle cats or whatever. It was a bone head move right from the start. For awhile there were turkey chicks everywhere but that has stabilized somewhat. Before the turkeys arrived there used to be beautiful and endemic mountain king snakes ringed in three colors like a coral snake. I haven't seen one in years.
Should have guessed there'd be money involved somewhere. So sad about the king snakes, they must have been quite something to see.