The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department says Vermont's wild turkey population is the result of a successful wildlife restoration project.
The department says wild turkeys had disappeared from the state in the mid-to-late 1800s when land was cleared for farming, destroying habitat.
It says in 1969 and 1970, the department stocked 31 wild turkeys in Rutland County as the state's forest habitat could again support the birds.
Wildlife biologists moved groups of the turkeys north.
The department says now the state has a population of nearly 50,000 wild turkeys.
Copyright The Associated Press
