After Katrina, wild chickens proliferate in the sparsely populated 9th Ward of New Orleans; Phoenix also has chicken problem
April 11, 2011
Article found HERE By Joshua Norman
 

(CBS News) 

New Orleans is often described as a large village with many folksy traditions and a somewhat country atmosphere, especially in its swampy outer areas.

Keeping chickens in backyards as a means to improving mealtimes was far from unheard of before Hurricane Katrina. Once the storm came and destroyed many of the fences that contained them, few residents had the time or energy to even contemplate the fate of the farm animals.

Now, however, feral chickens are running rampant in New Orleans, especially around its famous 9th Ward neighborhood, reports the Times-Picayune.

“We don’t have stray dogs anymore,” 9th Ward resident Ruby Melton, 68, told the Times-Picayune. “But everyone I talk to has stray chickens.”

A spokesman for the local SPCA chapter said they are now dispatching officers weekly to catch wild fowl. Once captured – with great difficulty apparently – the animals are brought to a farmer called “the Chicken Man.”

New Orleans is far from alone in having a feral chicken problem. The matter was brought up recently at a Phoenix city council meeting. The Bronx, Philadelphia, Miami, Los Angeles, Key West and the entire island of Kauai, Hawaii, also have had relatively recent issues with wild packs of chickens clucking around town.

While the ground-dwelling fowl may be running wild around New Orleans’ streets, another once-domesticated, now-feral bird also proliferates throughout the city: parrots.

Specifically, Monk Parakeets, also known as Quaker Parrots, can be found throughout the city in large flocks and in ever-greater numbers after Katrina.

Popular household pets, the bright green parrots thrive in the warm weather and frequently nest in the city’s many palm trees. Many suspect that the parrots are offspring of a collection of escaped former household pets.

WOOOOOAH NELLY

Invasive, Non-Native Wild Hogs Gaining a Foothold in New York

Newswise — “Breeding populations of wild boar are becoming established in New York State. These invasive, non-native hogs can cause tremendous damage to crops and native plant communities. There is also a risk of spreading diseases, such as pseudorabies, from feral hogs to domestic livestock.

“Feral swine produce rapidly, have large litters of six to eight piglets, and can produce multiple litters per year.

“Now is the time to control abundance of feral hogs before the population explodes. A conservative estimate of wild pig damage to crops and the environment is $1.5 billion annually in the U.S.”
–Paul Curtis, an expert on wildlife-human conflicts and a professor of Natural Resources at Cornell University