A loud flock of wild chickens and roosters is working on the last nerve of residents in one South Jersey town.
You wouldn’t expect to see a flock of chickens and roosters roaming the woods of New Jersey, but for the residents of one town, it's a reality.
Homeowners in Little Egg Harbor Township, N.J. are split over whether to let the birds roam free or be captured and brought to a farm.
The neighborhood’s burgeoning chicken and rooster population is the result of one resident’s decision several years back to let her pets back into the wild.
Michele Donnell, the original owner of the chickens, lives on Nugentown Road, right near the woods where hordes of the animals roam today.
Now, the frolicking fowl have bred so much that they can be seen everywhere, according to ticked-off residents.
“At one time I had 28 in my yard,” said miffed Jamey Carnes.
Carnes also commented on the constant cock-a-doodle-doo-ing of the animals. He complained, “You’ll hear them 24/7. Day, night, rain. They don’t care.”
One chicken even bit his daughter’s leg, Carnes said.
While many residents agree with Carnes, others have pointed out the birds’ benefits.
“The chickens are great. They eat the ticks. The kids won’t get Lyme disease, the adults won’t get Lyme disease. It’s a beautiful thing,” said Bill Sadowski, another township resident.
Even if all the township neighbors agreed on a course of action for the birds, Animal Control can’t do much.
Officials say that first, locals must give the go-ahead before the organization catches chickens or roosters at their residences.
But some locals in the township like Frank Duelly called the organization to no avail. He said, “No one ever showed up.”
Someone had better come soon, though, because anger over the birds is growing.
"I want them gone. Everybody wants them gone," Duelly commented.
