Margaritaville is overrun by fowl. Key West officials want a catcher to ship away 1,000.
By TAMARA LUSH
Published January 13, 2004
[Times file photo]
The official estimate of Key West's chicken flock is about 2,000, compared with a human population of about 25,000.
KEY WEST - They overlooked the chickens at the library. And the roosters on the beach. And the mother hen and her chicks at the courthouse.
But after 150 people called last year to complain about the noisy birds scratching in their yards, tearing up flower beds and defecating in driveways, city officials decided they had to act.
For the first time in the city's 100-year history, officials are planning to hire a chicken catcher.
"He's got to be fast, he's got to be brave and he's got to be smarter than the chickens," said Assistant City Manager John James. "They're smart, those chickens."
But this being Key West, the chicken plan isn't without controversy. A group of chicken-lovers - spearheaded by Katha Sheehan, a.k.a. "the Chicken Lady" - say the birds should stay put.
Chicken overpopulation has been an ongoing issue. Three years ago, the city called a "chicken summit" and decided to round up about 200 chickens and ship them to a bird sanctuary near St. Petersburg, which then parsed the birds out to farms around the North Suncoast where they live out their days laying eggs or just hanging out.
But thinning out the bird population by 200 wasn't enough. Several hundred more hens and roosters were captured and sent north in the past two years, but new chicks kept appearing.
"They breed real fast," said James. "That's our problem."
City workers also had a difficult time capturing the birds. Chicken catchers must nab the birds at night, when they are sleeping in trees, said Suzanne Sakal of the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary in Indian Shores.
"They are rather wily," said Sakal. "And some of them can be mean."
The official estimate of Key West's chicken flock is about 2,000, compared with a human population of about 25,000. They're everywhere: in hotel parking lots, restaurant terraces and under sea grape bushes near a concrete blob that marks the southernmost point in the United States.
By hiring the chicken catcher, city officials hope to capture 1,000 birds and ship them off the island. City officials say they may continue to send them to the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary, but also are exploring working with a Broward County farmer.
Key West, where alternative lifestyles are the norm, has spawned a passionate group of people urging the island's residents to live in harmony with the wild chickens.
Sheehan, who owns the Chicken Store on Duval Street, sells chicken memorabilia, including T-shirts declaring "Rooster Rescue Team." She also rehabilitates injured chickens and ships birds for about $30 in postage, but only if you agree not to turn them into food.
On Monday, Sheehan was boxing up a hen and three chickens for a man in Tennessee and a rooster and a hen for a Hudson woman.
Sheehan is opposed to spending $20,000 to hire a chicken catcher. The money should be put toward a chicken park or sanctuary, she said.
"We should have a place to take the unwanted chickens," Sheehan told the City Commission last week. "Maybe to a park for people to enjoy them.
"We can't export our problems."
An added bonus, she said: The chickens eat cockroaches, ants and even the scorpions that call the island home.
"They do a good job," she said.
During the Great Depression, every one of the few hundred families on the island owned chickens, said Joan Langley, a city historian and fourth-generation Conch, the term for native Key West residents. They didn't run loose because people were poor and needed them for eggs and food, Langley said.
When the island became more populated and supermarkets arrived, people didn't need their own brood of birds, she said. So they let chickens loose.
Later this month, the commissioners are scheduled to discuss the matter again. They have a chicken catcher in mind.
Armando Parra, a barber by trade, has "worked his whole life" with chickens and other assorted birds, Jones said.
"He's a very qualified gentleman," said Jones, who reviewed Parra's bird resume Monday.
However, some city commissioners have a message for the new chicken wrangler.
"I want to make sure here that our goal is not to rid the island of chickens," said Commissioner Carmen Turner. "It is part of our island charm."
- Tamara Lush can be reached at 727 893-8612 or at lush@sptimes.com
