Rooster Boosters
November 20th, 2008 by admin
Chickens have roamed Tampa’s historic Ybor City neighborhood for decades, threatened only by feral cats, fast-moving vehicles and the occasional hawk- that is, until a few weeks ago.
Apparently, a business owner complained about chickens “lurking” around their establishment. There were even accusations that roosters had entered a business and scared off patrons. We find that hard to believe, but regardless of the truth, a trapper was hired and Ybor’s chickens were facing a round-up.
Fortunately, Ybor City’s chickens have a lot of friends. Trapper Mike Martinez was quickly persuaded to leave the chickens alone; he told The St. Petersburg Times that he had “never met a neighborhood so proud of its wild chicken population.” A protest that was organized before the trapping was halted became a celebratory march on Sunday. The Tampa Tribune reported that 100 people marched through the heart of the neighborhood in support of the chickens!
This week the issue was hopefully put to rest once and for all when Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio reminded residents that Tampa has (since 1989) been designated as a bird sanctuary, which makes it unlawful to kill, trap “or otherwise molest” any domestic bird or wildfowl.
Many cities across Florida have been designated “bird sanctuaries.” If your city is not a bird sanctuary, contact your city commission and urge them to consider adding this important protection for birds (contact ARFF, we can help).