SPRING HILL, Fla. — People in a Hernando County community are mourning the loss of a beloved turkey believed to have died in a hit-and-run crash.
"Tom the Turkey" lived on the corner of Spring Hill Drive and Anderson Snow Road at the town's Walgreens. Locals suspected him of living in the nearby woods, but he moved after the area was built up.
Ashley Cassell, a Spring Hill resident who moved back and forth from St. Pete to Spring Hill, posted on Facebook in a Spring Hill community group to let her neighbors know. She said she knew how much the community loved Tom.
"Tom, our feathery friend, you’ve winged your way into our hearts and drumsticks forever," the post read. "You lived life on the fly, strutting with pride. You weren’t just any bird; you were the cream of the crop, the stuffing of our lives."
Tom was said to have shown up at the Walgreens one day and never left. Cassell said she had seen him on the corner since at least 2017.
Cassell, a small business owner of Pineapple Dress Face Painting, said she had always been involved in her community, but this was her first post in the group.
"I missed the small-town charm of things like 'Tom the Turkey,'" Cassell told 10 Tampa Bay. "It's a big part of the uniqueness of the area."
She then decided to print, laminate and post a "memorial" on the corner where Tom lived. The idea came from Li'l Sebastian, the mini-horse from the show "Parks and Recreation." She said she went to the dollar store to buy flowers and erect a memorial so people could honor him.
"Because of my business, I'm really creative and handy with Canva, so I decided to design a graphic that I could post to honor Tom," she said.
The memorial read, "Gone, but not for-gobble."
Spring Hill is part of Florida's Nature Coast but was recently renamed Florida's Adventure Coast due to the tourist build-up. The community connection with Tom gave Cassell hope for preserving Spring Hill's roots as a nature conservatory first.
"Even as things are developing, people can still connect with nature,” she said.
The post received hundreds of comments, most with residents mourning Tom.
One commenter, Amber Castillo, posted a video of Tom choosing her as his Valentine last year.
"Wanted to share how Tom chose me as his valentine last year," Castillo commented. "I saw him many times after this and it always made me smile when I saw him hanging around the nail shop and circle k!!!! Rest easy tom. And thanks for bringing me so much joy in the midst of my storms last year."
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Others questioned why he had to live on the corner and said he should have been relocated to a safer area.
"People tried relocating him, but he kept coming back," Cassell said. "He really liked people and really wanted to hang around there. He was definitely stubborn.”
Andrea Whiting, another commenter, confirmed Tom's love of people.
"Tom was just a few hundred feet from all of the forested and pasture area that is by the Suncoast Expressway," Whiting commented. "He chose to be near people. He did not need to be relocated, this was the life he wanted."
While recent commenters said Tom's memorial was taken down, the community still shows a deep love for Tom.
"Tom, you will always be our feathered favorite. Rest in peace, Tom. You’ve finally quit cold turkey and found eternal rest," the post read.
