Even more amazing when one of those animals is a cat! My cat does not like anyone. She acts like the thug of our yard, but we know she is afraid of the birds that come around to feed, even little finches. Finches!
Posted on 02/10/2009 8:35:27 PM PST by buccaneer81
Dogs do in chickens at center of Worthington controversy Tuesday, Dean Narciso 3:21 PM By Dean Narciso THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Lael Weyenberg stands outside the chicken coop in her backyard in Worthington. Chris Russell | Dispatch Lael Weyenberg stands outside the chicken coop in her backyard in Worthington.
Hillary, Veronica and Cindi are dead.
The backyard chickens -- the subjects of a neighborhood pecking match that spilled over into a packed Worthington City Council debate last month -- fell prey to two loose dogs on Sunday, police said.
Lael Weyenberg and her husband, Andrew Rozmiarek, returned from a friend's house to find two dogs, one inside the coop with a chicken swinging from its mouth, the other standing outside. Two chickens were already dead. A third died earlier this week.
Weyenberg said the coop's wire was cut, allowing the dogs to enter.
"This is really sabotage and vandalism and a crime," she said. "They were somehow led into this chicken run and allowed to kill the chickens."
Police and Franklin County animal control officers took 24 pictures of the scene and questioned witnesses. A police lieutenant called Weyenberg's sabotage theory preposterous.
"No one did anything to those chickens except for two roaming dogs," Worthington Police Lt. Mike Dougherty said. "It's not a canine mob hit."
The dogs that killed the chickens came from a home two miles away, police said. Their owner, Jennifer A. Hulgin, has been charged with two counts of allowing her dogs -- a Doberman and a Labrador retriever -- to run free and one count of failing to license a dog. Hulgin did not return calls seeking comment.
The chickens, a golden comet, a black giant and a brahma, were valued at $10 on the police report.
Weyenberg's foul play suspicions persist from a long-running feud with neighbors, whose dog, a labradoodle named Wilson, had scuffled with the chickens twice before.
The neighbors were upset because their dog became aggressive whenever he saw the chickens. In May and July, Wilson attacked and injured the chickens, but they survived.
City laws prohibit farm animals from being closer than 150 feet from another residence. City officials measured and found one neighbor closer than that, but that neighbor didn't mind the chickens.
The labradoodle's owners pressed the issue, and Worthington cited Weyenberg last week for violating the city code.
"How much police time, council time, law director time - All over three chickens?" Dougherty lamented. "It's not a child that was murdered. It's food."
Weyenberg and Rozmiarek's two-year-old son, Kai, watched his pets grow from chicks, played with them and collected their eggs daily, Weyenberg said.
Chickens are very social, with distinct personalities, and were a great conversation starter, Rozmiarek told the Worthington City Council last month. The council meeting was attended by dozens of residents, most of whom were there to discuss one thing: chickens.
Kai knows that his pets are gone. His parents want to spare him the details.
"I want his world to be bunnies and flowers," Weyenberg said.
And she hasn't decided about new occupants for the coop, or even staying in her neighborhood.
"We feel like we're a target now," she said. "It's shocking, it's disgusting. It's vile. And it makes us not want to live here anymore."
Or Cocoa Puffs.
we were given 3 chickens a couple months ago. We built a nice little coop and run for them. We live in a neighborhood on a 50x100 lot, and I’m sure chickens are off the pet list, but no one’s complained so far. We wanted them for eggs, but we’re really enjoying them! I’d like to have more, but that would really be pushing it. who knows what’s going to happen to the economy, so chickens were on my list. By the way, our dogs play with them some, and our cat sits on my lap and mostly ignores them when they’re wandering the yard. Amazing how animals in the same family can be “friends”.
“When dogs kill chickens, that’s not news. When chickens kill dogs, THAT’S news”
I turned my chickens loose on a wounded dog once. He lived a lot longer than he wanted I’ll wager. Chickens will eat anything and blood gets them stirred up
A buddy of mine with a gentleman's farm used to skin his chickens rather than pluck them, less work. He'd throw the skin and feathers back into the chicken coop and they'd pluck it clean.
Well I don’t want no dog doo in my chicken.
Even more amazing when one of those animals is a cat! My cat does not like anyone. She acts like the thug of our yard, but we know she is afraid of the birds that come around to feed, even little finches. Finches!
nice guns :) and a beautiful cat!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.