Tom, the beloved wild turkey harassing this South Jersey town, now has his own crossing sign

Deptford Township has installed a new traffic sign urging motorists traveling along Caulfield Avenue to use caution: turkey crossing.

Mayor Paul Medany recently directed the public works department in the South Jersey community to put up the warning sign to protect a beloved wild turkey that has taken up residence in the area. The turkey has become a local celebrity with his antics: stopping traffic, pecking cars, and chasing customers in the parking lots of nearby businesses.

» READ MORE: Meet Tom, a beloved wild turkey who stops traffic and terrorizes a South Jersey community

The feathered beast, called Tom by some residents and Fred by others, is regularly seen near the intersection of Caulfield Avenue and Clements Bridge Road, a busy thoroughfare in Deptford. He struts into the middle of the street, stopping cars and ignoring motorists who honk their horns and urge him to move.

“He has certainly claimed Caulfield Avenue as his very own turf and refuses to obey our traffic laws,” Medany said, tongue-in-cheek, Wednesday. “So instead of fighting him, we decided to give in and protect him from an unfortunate collision.”

Medany said the township recycled an old sign to create the turkey crossing alert and spent about $182 for the decal. The sign directs motorists to use caution and has a picture directing them to yield to the turkey.

“Not only are we protecting our wildlife community, we are doing it with recycled material,” the mayor wrote in an email. Another sign was installed nearby privately.

Residents say the turkey took up residence in the area several years ago. Turkeys are social birds and rarely hang out alone, but the habitat and plentiful supply of food from neighbors make ideal living conditions that may have kept him nearby. Neighbors say Tom had a female companion at one point, but she has not been seen recently.

Tom, or Fred, has become something of a celebrity bird — some want the township to declare him its mascot — albeit a nuisance at times. There have been lots of reported sightings and encounters with the turkey, which roams the streets with confidence, bringing traffic to a halt. When drivers try to maneuver around him, he sometimes tries to peck their cars. (Turkeys peck cars when they see their own reflection and mistakenly believe it’s another turkey.)

The turkey regularly shows up at DHY Motorsports, where employees put corn out for him. He chases customers and employees in the Motorsports parking lot and at a deli market across the street, sometimes preventing them from getting into their cars.

Although a nuisance, wild turkeys generally pose no real threat to humans, experts say. Male turkeys may become aggressive in the spring during mating season, fanning their tail and puffing up as a sign to females and to scare off other toms.

Neighbors have worried that the bird could be struck by a motorist or snatched up for a meal. Tom is protected from legal hunting — at least for now. New Jersey’s harvest season, which requires a license, begins in April.

Once nearly extinct a century ago, the wild turkey has made a comeback in New Jersey, with about 20,000 birds statewide, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

The state carefully manages the wild turkey population, and will sometimes trap and relocate a flock of wild turkeys causing major property damage. It typically will not remove just one or two birds in a town.