Turkey Pierced by Arrow Returned to Wild

Archer the turkey survived being shot by an arrow, but will he make it back in the wild? 

Workers from the Ramona nonprofit Emergency Animal Rescue released him Thursday, according to 10News.com, and there's some question whether he can survive.

Though he is well, the volunteers say, it's crucial that his flock allow him to rejoin them. They had rejected him while he bore the arrow that wounded him.

San Diego Country Estates residents, who spotted the wounded bird originally, are being asked to watch him now that he's been released, to ensure that Archer is accepted back into the wild.

The arrow had been in the turkey's lower back with an exit wound on the other side, in his chest. Workers believe Archer made due for months despite the moving about with the arrow.

State Fish and Game officials caught him after residents failed to do so, and the Acacia Animal Health Center gave him free medical care. The EAR in Ramona fed him a diet of  "corn, birdseed, berries, broccoli, and zucchini," to give him his strength back, workers said.