Fla. City Sends Chickens Packing
In the latest battle against the strutting, free-roaming population of cocks, hens and chicks, officials in Florida’s southernmost city are hiring a local barber to catch and curb the feathered fowl.
Key West’s city commission agreed Tuesday to pay as much as $20,000 to hire Key West native Armando Para to capture the birds and haul them out of town, probably to a farm in Brooksville, Fla., north of Tampa.
“There’s some places chickens shouldn’t be,” Para said.
Assistant City Manager John Jones estimated Key West has 1,500 to 2,000 chickens roaming the 2-by-4-mile island.
Jones envisions a reduced population of 1,000 birds to quiet the complaints of bleary-eyed residents -- many of whom work nights and are awakened by crowing roosters.
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