SJB officials want proper holding facility before collecting
ferals
Plans for the city-endorsed removal of feral chickens and hens
from the streets of San Juan Bautista ruffled the feathers of some
people who were concerned how the birds would be treated once
captured.
It also prompted a number of calls from people interested in
adopting hens and roosters collected from private property.
SJB officials want proper holding facility before collecting ferals
Plans for the city-endorsed removal of feral chickens and hens from the streets of San Juan Bautista ruffled the feathers of some people who were concerned how the birds would be treated once captured.
It also prompted a number of calls from people interested in adopting hens and roosters collected from private property.
Now, the city’s mayor said any roundup of the fowl will not begin until a proper holding facility is built so that the birds will have water and food while they await adoption.
“It’s amazing how many calls I’ve gotten from people saying they’ll take a couple of hens,” Mayor Andy Moore said.
Deputy City Clerk Trish Paetz said news coverage of plans to capture and move the wild birds has prompted “a lot of people to call us to say ‘we can use some chickens,'” she said. “It’s usually from people on ranches. We’re getting a pretty good list going on that.”
Moore said the city needs to build a holding facility for the birds so they can get food and water while in the city’s possession, “and then we’ll check the contact list for people who want hens and roosters.”
The city’s plans to hire a Paicines-based critter wrangler to gather the street chickens got the media crowing, with an Associated Press story on the topic running in dozens of newspapers from Seattle to Washington, D.C., as well as on Forbes magazine’s website.
“Everybody thought it was going to be a dragnet and it got kinda out of control,” Moore said of initial reaction to the city’s plans. “There are maybe five or six residents who’ve got a problem with them.”
Still, Moore said it is the city’s duty to respond to complaints about noise or damage caused by the feral fowl.
“It bothers some people, so if we can just go to those hotspots, we’ll take care of it and go from there,” he said.
With Roger Grimsley coming on board as San Juan’s interim city manager just last week, the city council was scheduled this week to discuss goals and priorities with him and provide direction on what the Mission City’s priorities should be. That includes how to deal with street chickens, which some people have said add to the city’s character, while some residents complain their crowing and scratching keep them up at all hours of the night.
“We got Roger on board and had our plate full with a lot of other issues, so when people started calling us (looking to adopt the chickens) we started creating a list” at city hall, Moore said.
Jim Bohannan of J&D Critter Roundup has not yet signed the contract the council approved that would pay his company $5 per feral chicken removed from the city – up to 100 birds.
Asked if that meant the city was abandoning the idea of using that service, Moore said “not really. As far as I know we’re probably going to employ him and if somebody wants (the rounded-up street chickens) they can come and get them. I told him, ‘We’ll get back to you.’ I assume we’re going to use his help. We just need to get this holding pen built.”
Moore said after that happens, the city will refer to its waiting list and try to find homes for the birds.
“We want to do it right,” he said. “People had concerns about where we were going to put the birds.”
Once a pen is in place, public works employees might respond to residents’ calls complaining of noisy or otherwise disruptive feral chickens and hens, Moore said.
