FAA: Arkansas event followed rules in airplane turkey drop

YELLVILLE, Ark. – Federal Aviation Administration investigators say a festival in northwestern Arkansas did not break any rules when it tossed six live turkeys from an airplane.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports the annual Turkey Trot festival was held last weekend in Yellville, which is about 90 miles north of Little Rock. One turkey died Saturday when it hit the ground.

FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford says an investigator who attended the event Friday didn’t witness any rule violations. Lunsford says it’s legal to drop objects from airplanes if there isn’t any risk of injuring property or humans on the ground.

Animal-welfare groups have condemned the 50-year-old tradition and called on the FAA to rethink its regulations.

Lunsford says the agency doesn’t have jurisdiction over animal-cruelty concerns.