The Gypsy Chickens of Key West

I had so wanted to share my new recipe for garlic chicken with you, stolen from my favorite Cuban restaurant Don Arturos in Ft. Lauderdale, but changed my mind, as well you just might after checking out the chicken crisis in Key West.

I've always loved the Keys, accompanying my parents there every other weekend so my father could fish out in the Gulf while my mother taught me how to steal lobsters out of season. It wasn't until I was an adult that I had a chance to check out Key West, a nation by itself. Definitely a lot more fun cruising the bars than just trolling for dolphin. (I don't mean the Flipper variety so please don't start sending me hate mail). Although I usually reserve my energy for writing our legislators and current administration about human rights violations, the Keys hold a special place in my heart. Actually, this is about animal rights.

I would be talking about Chicken Rights y'all, specifically the Key West variety of chicks and roosters, otherwise known as the infamous Gypsy Chickens. Apparently these poultry terrorists have made themselves so unwelcome to some of the residents to the point that the city has had to relocate hundreds (poultry, not people), causing opposing human camps to take sides in the battle of the chicken. Leading the rooster army would definitely be The Chicken Store, a shelter providing care and rehabilitation for chickens, even arranges adoptions. Check out their gallery of feathered adoptables....hey, they don't bark and couldn't be as difficulty to housebreak as a chihuahua.... and you don't want to miss the bumper stickers which I didn't have the nerve to put in this post, but loved them none the less. Truly the Chicken Store folk of Key West have led the battle which may never be won as you can see from their petition circulated in an effort to put a halt to the chick haters.

***************************************************************************************

Petition

To: the City Commission, City of Key West

We, the undersigned, hold dear the heart-stoppingly beautiful wild chickens of the City of Key West and ask they be preserved here forever.

Not only are they an established 175-year-old historical feature of this island city, but also they perform a valuable service by eating scorpions, ticks, cockroaches, termites, snails and other pests.

We respect and honor Gallus gallus, the Chicken, for its many gifts to humanity, which include: the Salk polio vaccine and other life-saving serums, life-sustaining foods not only for us and our children but also for our pets, and sentinel service to forewarn people against the threat of mosquito-borne diseases such as encephalitis, dengue and malaria.

Truly, the City of Key West would not be the same if its streets were silent and devoid of the proud Conch cocks and their beautiful feathered ladies with chicks in tow. Please hold them fast in your hearts, and let there be one place in the world where the deserving Chicken may live safe and free - in the amazing, unique, unparalleled City of Key West.

***************************************************************************************

It couldn't be said anymore eloquently than the Society for Chicken Love put it, "The chicken has suffered an un-measurable amount of injustice. .... Has a chicken ever attacked a man? Has a chicken ever locked a human in a wire cage? Has a chicken ever forced abortion on a woman and then ate the aborted fetus? Has a chicken ever defrocked a human, basted him with barbecue sauce and thrown him on flaming coals? .....No one should have to live like a slave or prisoner food object just because they were born a chicken. Chicken oppression must stop!"

I spoke to Kathy of the Chicken Store just recently, and sad to say that the Chicken Store is presently looking for a new dwelling for their poultry orphanage. If you get a chance to travel down A1A make sure you put Kathy and her gypsies on your list of places to visit...only don't go in there smelling of chicken fingers.