Editor's note: This story was originally published on BarrieToday, a sister site of ThoroldToday, on July 10, 2022.
Rob Fraser had seen the scene unfold over and over again.
But when the neighbourhood's wild turkey returned in front of his house on Wednesday evening, the Letitia Street resident was ready.
"As soon as the cruiser stopped.... I knew this was comedy gold," said Fraser.
The video he captured shows a Barrie police officer trying to shoo the turkey off the road and to a safer place. While some animals chase people or inanimate things, this "true urban turkey" as Fraser calls him, has a thing for cars. It likes to chase them down, get in front of them and block their path.
Any driver who slows down, Fraser explained, falls into the urban turkey's trap.
The video on its own was pretty funny, but Fraser's mind wandered off to the brilliance of British comedian Benny Hill, whose long-time television sketch show, which peaked in the 1970s, played a unique tune which accompanied fast-play comedic scenes.
Using free software, Fraser sped up his video, added the Benny Hill theme — Yakety Sax originally recorded in 1958 by Boots Randolph and James Q — and the result is perfectly described as 'comedy gold', comments on his Facebook post confirm.
"This is just proof that in today’s world of policing, there is no such thing as a routine call; even when it involves turkeys," quipped Barrie police spokesman Peter Leon.
