Contents

• About
• Origins
• Parodies
• Other wild turkey invasions in urban areas in Québec
• Image Gallery
• Search Interest
• External References

About

La dinde noire (or more colloquially noère, the Black Turkey) is a viral video in Québec, North America, about the panic Mrs Céline Poulin experienced when a wild male turkey irrupted in her house and trashed it. Since the damages caused by these wild animals are recurring, many other incidents involving wild turkeys became memes thereafter in Québec.

Origins

On 25 March 2016, a wild turkey (in French, dindon for the male) trashed the house of Céline Poulin in Gatineau, district of Templeton. According to her interview for TVA Nouvelles a few days later:

« J'étais étendue sur mon couch [fauteuil]. Je vois une grosse bibitte qui s'en vient vers ma fenêtre. Je crie au meurtre. Je prends mes couvertes; je m'abrille par la tête. Ça fait kaboum ! I s'en vient en bas. Je criais: "Y'a une bibitte noère dans le salon !" »

"I was slouched on my couch [in English in the original]. I see a big beastie that comes to my window. I scream bloody murder. I take my blankets, I cover myself up on the head. It rumbles kaboom! It comes below. I was shouting: 'There's a black beastie in the living room!'"

The volatile damaged her furnitures:

« Elle a uriné dessus [le fauteuil]. Elle a même fait des selles dans la maison ! »

"It urinated on it [the couch]. It even left feces in the house!"

The entire window was condemned. The fragments of glass were everywhere:

« C'tait plein de vitre. Le monsieur qui est venu ici, Gerry, en r'venait pas que la dinde ait fait un ravage de même dans une maison. Tiens, regarde, y'en a tout partout. Imagine-toé dans les couch. R'gard, ça c'est d'la vitre. Imagine-toé dans les couch qu'est-ce que ça peut faire, ça là. »

"It was full of glass. The sir that came here, Gerry, couldn't believe that the turkey did such a ravage in a house. There, look, it's everywhere. Imagine that in the couches. Look, it's glass there. Imagine in the couches what it can do!"

She was quite distressed by her losses:

« J'ai perdu une chaise La-Z-Boy, pis c'est encore plein de vitre, pis j'ai même pas le courage de rien refaire dans la maison ! »

"I lost a La-Z-Boy chair, and it's still full of glass, and I don't have the courage to remake anything in the house!"

The company Intact Insurance was willing to replace her window, but not the damaged furnitures inside the house.

« I disent "C't'un animal, pis y'a aucune assurance qui couvre ça, les dégâts d'un animal." Mais c'est pas moi qui a appelé la dinde sauvage pour qu'a vienne icitte ! C'pas moé qui la nourris! »

"They say 'It's an animal, and there is no insurance that covers this, the damages from an animal.' But it's not me who called the wild turkey to come here! It's not me who's feeding it!"

Céline Poulin had a nervous breakdown and even was treated by paramedics in her house.

« J'ai juste ce film-là dans ma tête, constamment, que la bibitte… a va r'venir, la dinde noère… »

"I just have this movie in my head, constantly, that the beastie… will come back, the black turkey…^[1]"

Crowdfunding campaign for Céline Poulin

The story went quickly viral all over Québec. The radio hosts Babu and Yannick of the channel Rock 100,9 FM from Québec City decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe to buy the lady a new couch^[2]. Her reaction was:

« J’ai mon voyage! Je ne m’attendais pas à ça pantoute! Je suis assommée! »

"I can't believe it! I didn't expect that at all! I am stunned!"

Parodies

Afficher cette publication sur Instagram

Une publication partagée par Tommy-Lee Salvas (@tommylee.salvas)

Sur la trace, season 1, episode 1 on TVA+ made a parody of Céline Poulin : https://www.tvaplus.ca/tva/sur-la-trace/saison-1/ep-01-la-dinde-noire-1098328543

Other wild turkey invasions in urban areas in Québec

There were many other similar incidents, some of them causing further hilarity. The global warming has made Québec a lot more hospitable for wild turkeys in spring. Since the hunt of wild turkeys is only allowed in rural areas, they thrive in urban areas. The animal is furthermore protected and only an agent of the Ministry of Forests and Fauna of Québec is legally entitled to remove them. There are concerns that their predators, the coyotes, will follow them next.

In September 2022, five wild turkeys decided to nest near a kindergarten of the district of Ahuntsic in Montréal. They would roam in the streets during the day, defecate everywhere and sleep in the trees during the night. They stayed there for three months. The kindergarten tried everything to chase them : noise, intense light and even wolf urine. Nothing worked.

The birds were even sighted taking the bus in Montréal, or hanging out in bus shelters.

In February 2024, wild turkeys "spread terror" in Louiseville. They decided to hang out near a retirement house and terrorized the elders. Mrs Hélène Minot even filmed Mr Michel Turcotte being chased by a wild turkey. He was trying to scare the bird, but it wouldn't work. When he tried to throw snow at it, it retaliated by attacking. The mayor Yvon Deshaies even went as far as recommending to beat up the volatiles with baseball bats.

Since the Minister of Fauna was too slow to react, the citizens took the matter in their own hands. The aggressive bird was shot with the supervision of the police of the Sûreté du Québec.

On 4 December 2025, turkeys were sighted entering a Maxi supermarket in Laval.

Image Gallery

Les dindes noires dangereuses à Louiseville
byu/Emost423 inQuebec

Search Interest

External References

^[1] OUELLET, Simon-Pierre. « Un dindon sauvage fracasse sa fenêtre, son assureur se défile », TVA Nouvelles, 31 March 2016, URL: https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2016/03/31/un-dindon-sauvage-fracasse-sa-fenetre-son-assureur-se-defile

^[2] « Un nouveau divan pour la dame traumatisée par un dindon sauvage », Le Journal de Québec, 1st April 2016, URL: https://www.journaldequebec.com/2016/04/01/un-nouveau-couch-pour-la-dame-traumatisee-par-un-dindon-sauvage