WSVN — There are very few places in the United States like South Florida. Sun, surf, beaches and chickens roaming your neighborhood. Many places have them but not every neighbor wants to, but can you remove them? It’s why one Hialeah woman called Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser.
In South Florida we have everything from topless beaches, to over the top nightclubs. From loud sporting events, to nice quiet games of dominos in the park. A lot to crow about…
Oh yeah, and that too…
Dorice Kiupelis: “In the morning they crow. They don’t crow early morning, they crow all day.”
Chickens out in the country are common, but in many neighborhoods chickens cross the streets, strolling from one yard to another.
Dorice Kiupelis: “Those neighbors where nice but they foreclosed.”
When Dorice’s Hialeah neighbors were foreclosed on, they flew the coop. Their roosters and hens did not.
Dorice Kiupelis: “They left the chickens. They didn’t take them with them.”
With no-one feeding them the birds started roaming, looking for food. Dorice is the nearest neighbor and felt bad for them.
Dorice Kiupelis: “And I give them bread and water. It is like a child. If they come to you, they’re hungry. You are going to feed them and you can see they are starving to death.”
Fortunately, the fowl go back to their yard to roost at night but they leave behind a mess everywhere they roam.
Dorice Kiupelis: “They are going to the bathroom on my porch and it is starting to smell, so I’ve been trying to clean them up.”
Dorice asked a representative from the bank that owns the house to come get their chickens.
Dorice Kiupelis: “And he said he would do something about it but he never did.”
She called the City of Hialeah and Animal Control where Dorice was told, “No one does anything about roaming chickens.”
Dorice Kiupelis: “I was dumbfounded because if you call Animal Control on a dog or something, they will come and check it but with chickens, they don’t do it I guess.”
Dorice could probably find someone in Hialeah to grab the birds to eat them. She doesn’t want that to happen.
Dorice Kiupelis: “They’re not bad animals, they’re chickens. Someone needs to take them and put them where they should be, in a farm or something.”
No one will take them. Dorice doesn’t want them and doesn’t want to see what she fears will happen to them.
Dorice Kiupelis: “And they are going to die if they don’t get some food and you don’t want anything to starve to death and that is what is going to happen.”
Well Howard, you have chickens roaming in your neighborhood. What can you do?
Howard Finkelstein: “Most cities do not allow livestock like chickens and if the city doesn’t have a way to remove them, the city can require the homeowner or in this case the bank, to take care of it. If they don’t, the city can fine the owner for code violations.”
We contacted the City of Hialeah. They told us it’s illegal to have livestock, like chickens, in the city but they do not have a procedure to remove the animals. Miami-Dade Animal Control only handles cats and dogs, not chickens. Both Hialeah and Animal Control told us they get a lot of calls about chickens. We then spoke to the management company that handles the property for the bank. They told us they were not aware of the chickens on the property. A few days later the chickens were gone.
Dorice Kiupelis: “You did your job completely. I can’t thank you enough.”
But a surprise; when they came to catch the chickens, they could not find one hen. Turns out she was hidden away sitting on her eggs.
Dorice Kiupelis: “Today I woke up and I saw that little hen out there and she had six little babies and they are so cute and I said I don’t know what we are going to do with her, but they are beautiful.”
Patrick Fraser: “And Dorice says she called the people who caught the other chickens but they said they were not coming back to get the hen and her chicks. Dorice said if you want them, fine with her. Give us a call and we will put you in touch with Dorice.”
Walking on eggshells trying to crack open a solution to your problem? Think it’s time to squawk about it. Let us sit on it. We’re nothing to crow about but we can hatch a solution once in awhile.
With this Help Me Howard, I’m Patrick Fraser, 7News.
CONTACT HELP ME HOWARD:
E-mail: helpmeHoward@wsvn.com (please include your contact phone number when e-mailing)
Reporter: Patrick Fraser at pfraser@wsvn.com
Miami-Dade: 305-953-WSVN
Broward: 954-761-WSVN