Clucking over chickens prompts a sweeping response
Published: July 8, 2010
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Chickens scavenge for food behind a dumpster in Red Hook.
The Virgin Islands government is moving to coordinate its response to an explosion of complaints about feral chicken nuisances and also announced that it will be taking steps to boost enforcement on a variety of animal issues territorywide.
In a prepared statement, the Virgin Islands departments of Planning and Natural Resources and Agriculture recently announced plans to work together — and with the public — to address some longstanding animal control issues.
Part of the effort includes the Agriculture Department’s move to create animal warden positions for each district and DPNR’s focus on enforcing zoning violations for those who are raising livestock — or chickens — in residential areas.
There are no estimates on the actual number of feral chickens roaming the territory. Officials said they could not say for sure whether the rising number of complaints was the product of a wild chicken population boom or more public awareness.
“There does seem to be increased awareness, particularly among individuals in residential areas,” said DPNR Commissioner Robert Mathes.
Mathes said that DPNR will be investigating complaints about people raising chickens or livestock in areas zoned residential.
Under current law and regulations, livestock and poultry can only be raised on land that is zoned “A,” for agricultural, V.I. Agriculture Commissioner Louis Petersen said.
Mathes said that those who want to report possible zoning violations related to livestock or chickens can call DPNR at 773-1082 on St. Croix or 774-3320 in the St. Thomas-St. John District and ask for the planning office.
If DPNR enforcement officers determine a zoning violation is occurring, they will use progressive enforcement, first providing a warning and then, if the violation continues to occur, issuing a formal notice of violation, which is then turned over to the V.I. Attorney General’s Office, Mathes said.
Agriculture will also be appointing animal wardens in both districts, according to the statement.
Although V.I. Code has long allowed the Agriculture commissioner to appoint animal wardens to enforce animal protection and control laws, Petersen said that no one currently working for the department recalls a warden ever being appointed in the past.
The department is in the process of changing that, he said.
At this point, Agriculture is working with the Police Department to develop job descriptions and salary ranges for the animal warden positions, Petersen said. The central government will also have to go through the sometimes cumbersome process of creating the positions.
The animal wardens will be trained peace officers, enabling Agriculture to enforce local laws against animal cruelty and neglect, as well as animal confinement regulations pertaining to large livestock, Petersen said.
According to the release, the wardens will also be tasked with doing some community education.
Petersen said that as far as he knows, the government plans to continue its animal control contracts with the Animal Welfare Center on St. Croix and the Humane Society on St. Thomas. Those contracts pertain mostly to domestic animals.
The animal wardens would be dealing with larger livestock and with enforcement issues that the two shelters currently have to call police to address, he said.
“The animal wardens are going to be supportive of what the department does, as well as what the shelters do,” Petersen said.
Gretchen Sherrill, executive director of the Animal Welfare Center, said that she welcomes the appointment of animal wardens and believes they will address a gap that currently exists with enforcing animal welfare laws.
“This position that’s going to have warden status will bridge the gap between what we’re able to do and what the police are able to do,” she said. “This would be truly an animal cop.”
Currently, if either nonprofit encounters an animal situation that may cross into a criminal investigation, police must be called in, she said.
Petersen said the animal wardens will be appointed as soon as possible. Even though times are hard, the department will have to find the money to do so, he said.
“It’s not easy at all. I think that one of our issues is that there are very limited resources for all of us to share, and at the same time, if this problem goes unchecked, it’s going to continue to degrade the quality of life for all of us,” he said.
Meanwhile, the government is urging private individuals and businesses that are having problems with feral chickens to purchase their own traps or other capturing devices.
The Agriculture Department will receive birds from those traps, the release states.
“If you’re looking for a way to dispose of the chicken, bring it to us,” Petersen said. “My No. 1 preference is to give them to poultry farmers to incorporate into their own operations. That way, it becomes a win-win situation.”
Agriculture has a limited number of traps to catch chickens, but the feral chicken problem in the territory far exceeds the number of traps, he said, noting that Agriculture has also had a problem with people stealing the traps once they are set.
St. Thomas-Water Island Administrator Barbara Petersen started a feral chicken trapping program in her district almost two years ago, with volunteers doing the trapping.
But the problem has mushroomed beyond what the volunteer trappers can handle, she said.
“That’s the operative word — it’s mushroomed into a bigger problem than we anticipated,” she said, adding that it will take the administrators’ offices, along with Agriculture, DPNR and the residents of the territory working together to get it under control.
