March 3 (UPI) -- A Boston man's video of turkeys circling a dead cat in what some joked was a "Satanic ritual" has even wildlife experts befuddled.
Twitter user @TheReal_Jdavis wrote on the site Thursday morning: "A cat was killed in the middle of the street, and a group of 30 wild turkeys were circling it...not to kill it, but like a ritual lol."
He tweeted a short while later with a video of the bizarre spectacle.
"These turkeys trying to give this cat its 10th life," he joked.
David Scarpitti, a state wildlife biologist and turkey expert, said the behavior in the video was unlike anything he has ever seen before.
He said he showed the video to some fellow wildlife biologists, and they were similarly perplexed.
"They're scratching their heads," Scarpitti told the Boston Globe. "I think the story will spread wide and far given how unique and unusual it is."
He said the video is "strange" and "exceptionally rare," but he offered one possible explanation -- the leader of the turkeys wanted to evaluate whether the cat was a threat, and the rest of the birds merely followed.
"I'm not sure they quite understand it's a carcass in the road," he said. "But there's always a ring leader with one in charge, and she likely encountered it to evaluate the threat. And as she is doing that, the rest are following suit. It's just really creepy and weird."
These turkeys trying to give this cat its 10th life pic.twitter.com/VBM7t4MZYr
— J... (@TheReal_JDavis) March 2, 2017
