It was quite the commotion Thursday as loose chickens sent members of the local police and fire departments into the streets of North and Central Saanich to corral them to safety.
Around 8:30 a.m. a concerned resident who spotted some birds along Birch Road called to report the situation.
RELATED: Chicken Run: Birds on the loose in North Saanich
Against the rising sun, members of the North Saanich Fire Department roped at least some of them into the pickle ball courts at Wain Park and when word got out, social media users had a little fun with the whole ordeal.
On Twitter, Social Media Girl/Chel got creative renaming Central Saanich councillors with chicken-inspired monikers after the District tweeted a link to next week’s council agenda with an image of chickens “meeting” in a coop.
Well played, @CSaanich. I can name this new #yyjpoli council: Mayor RyHen Wattle, Councillors Broiler Thompson, Chick Jensen, Comb Graham, Gizzard NewHen, Niall Poultry, and Zeb Cluck. #apologiesinadvance #noharmnofowl #csaan https://t.co/i0R0Vmgg3k
— SocialMediaGirl/Chel (@SocMedGirlyyj) January 11, 2019
On Facebook there were many “why did the chicken cross the road” jokes floating around, as to be expected.
According to Sidney/North Saanich RCMP nearly 100 chickens were found scattered across the Peninsula in five different locations.
All but one that had to be put down due to injury, are now in the care of CRD Animal Control.
RELATED: What makes chickens happy? University of Guelph researchers try to find out
“It’s a real mystery as to where they came from,” said Don Brown, chief bylaw officer for the CRD, adding it is not out the question to think they could have been dumped by someone from up-Island.
Brown noted it was evident the chickens were outside overnight: “They were quite cold and very, very hungry.”
However, the birds – confirmed to be laying chickens – were still producing eggs on their way to, and once at the shelter so Brown is perplexed as to why someone would have been looking to get rid of them.
Police, CRD officials and firefighters who rounded up the chickens also questioned local farmers but came up empty. Brown credits the help of that crew “or we would have still been out there rounding them up today.”
Still, there is some good news; the shelter is already receiving calls from people inquiring about “adopting” some of the chickens to provide them with new homes.
“I don’t know why anyone would dispose of them,” Brown said. “It was very cruel.”