"Roosters out of control" was the theme of last Friday's "Chicken Summit", a meeting Assistant City Manager John Jones convened.
"A small group of concerned citizens— both friends and foe of chickens— met to resolve the problems associated with too many fowl free-ranging in almost all areas of Key West and Stock Island," said Jones at the Tuesday City Commission meeting where he joked about loving chickens fried, sauteed or barbecued.
"It was a frank discussion about what to do with them because nobody wants to murder them. We'll have some recommendations at the next commission meeting, but one thing everyone agrees on, there are too many chickens," he said.
Not necessarily so, says Katha Sheehan: "Who took the last chicken census?"
"Of course, one chicken is too many when it's unwanted; I think we're talking about 60 or 70 roosters," said Sheehan, who owns the Chicken Store and is frequently called upon to rescue unwanted fowl. "After the one of two roosters is removed from an area, the problem's usually over; people don't seem to mind the hens being around."
But Dr. Mark Whiteside counters that people do mind the hens being around.
"The City ordinance can't be clearer," said Whiteside, a Salt Ponds area resident and president of the Keys Chapter of the Audubon Society. "Chickens and roosters must be kept in pens; their food must be covered and their poop cleaned up. This is a health related issue that's been ignored forever, and we can't do this any longer."
Whiteside says he has researched health hazards associated with chickens and they are loaded with parasites and Salmonella bacteria.
"So too are cats," said Sheehan.
Fungus thrives in chicken waste, says Whiteside.
Sheehan says ditto for cats.
"Chickens transmit lice and diseases to wild birds," said Whiteside.
"Cats eat wild birds," said Sheehan.
But cats, which Sheehan figures far outnumber island chickens, don't crow at 3 a.m. or scratch up manicured gardens. Even though they get their pictures taken as frequently as cats, cats are less visible on the streets than chickens. Consequently, cats are not at risk or deportation or, gulp, being murdered. Well, not at the moment, anyway.
Sheehan says the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine is presently working on oral contraception that prevents Salmonella infections in cats at the same time it controls over-population.
"Why not put an oral contraceptive in chicken food?" asks Sheehan. "I keep hearing about the farms and folks up North who will take our excess chickens, but no one names names. At Friday's meeting, euthanizing chickens at the Monroe County shelter surfaced more than creative solutions."
Assistant City Manager Jones can get very creative, though. Last week, he mentioned that the #1 way to quickly resolve the issue is to dump chickens and roosters in the City Commissioners' backyards.