Wild Turkey Cuts Power To Thousands Of Homes On Christmas Eve

The days and hours leading up to Christmas are hectic for those hosting family for the holidays. There’s a lot of running around and a lot of prep being done, and having electricity is pretty key to that. However, one wild turkey caused thousands of houses in Sacramento, California to lose power on Christmas Eve in the sweetest dose of poetic justice ever.

A whopping 4,248 customers lost power on Sunday, December 24.

According to the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, the power went out for thousands just after 12:15 p.m. PST after a turkey crashed into a power line.

Most of those affected lived in the Little Pocket and Greenhaven neighborhoods, and none of them will have been too pleased to be without power at such an important time of year.

Thankfully, the issue was fixed pretty quickly.

Workers were sent to the scene after the incident was reported and power had been restored to all of the houses that lost it by just after midnight on Christmas Day, per the SMUD website (via Newsweek).

“There was a turkey in the line that crews are looking to repair quickly and safely,” a spokesperson told The Sacramento Bee at the time.

Sadly, the turkey that crashed into the power line didn’t survive.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the crash into live electrical wires caused the turkey to be electrocuted and killed.

California has a pretty healthy wild turkey population, which is a good thing since they’re extinct in several U.S. states thanks to overhunting and deforestation.

Conservation efforts have boosted numbers in California, Alabama, Kentucky, Texas, and Wisconsin. This poor little guy simply had a bout of bad luck.

Piper Ryan is a NYC-based writer and matchmaker who works to bring millennials who are sick of dating apps and the bar scene together in an organic and efficient way. To date, she's paired up more than 120 couples, many of whom have gone on to get married. Her work has been highlighted in The New York Times, Time Out New York, The Cut, and many more.

In addition to runnnig her own business, Piper is passionate about charity work, advocating for vulnerable women and children in her local area and across the country. She is currently working on her first book, a non-fiction collection of stories focusing on female empowerment.