Residents say the chickens have “overtaken the community.”
with thousands of feral chickens continues — and written testimonies and reports from local news outlets suggest it’s not going very well.reported that in the past two months, the city and County of Honolulu set traps in five areas and have caught just 67 chickens, costing $7,000. That amounts to $104 per bird. The Associated Press says that catching chickens is costly because the traps are being vandalized and stolen, though it’s unclear who’s damaging them and why.
The problem is so dire that a bill introduced in the Hawaii State Legislature sought to establish a state-funded program to address the feral chickens. Unfortunately for Oahu's chicken-plagued residents, however, Senate Bill 2195 failed to advance.from Hawaii individuals responding to the proposed legislation recorded in early March, the “aggressive” chickens have “overtaken the community.
“Many of us work long hours, even double shifts, and to not be able to sleep in due to the cacking and crowing of the feral roosters and chickens has really been an unfair burden and hardship,” wrote Hawaii resident Majid Joneidi. “From dawn to setting sun, there is a constant crowing daily, and I work from home so it is hard and sometimes embarrassing if I have to make a call to the mainland and it sounds like I am in a barnyard,” testified Desiree Garner, who supports the program. “It has never been like this before and I am not sure how they got to this area, if for food and then became pets or if they naturally traversed.
Alexander Esin wrote that there are more than 100 feral chickens and roosters roaming the street on Kanuku Street and Lokowai Place. Esin has to “dodge them all over the roadway,” while residents like Murdoch Ortiz have watched them create “havoc” by jumping on garbage bins and ripping up trash bags, scattering trash and debris everywhere.