The City of Key West is reminding residents and visitors that feeding chickens is illegal.
City law states, “It shall be unlawful for any person to feed, provide food, water or other forms of sustenance (feeding) to poultry within the city.”
Officials at the Key West Wildlife Center note that, this time of year, there is a large outbreak of botulism killing the birds and that feeding them can be lethal. These outbreaks occur every year at this time. Chickens ingest the naturally-occurring bacteria in the soil by drinking muddy water or eating food people put out for them, scattered on the ground.
The feeding also increases the population and can lead to a terrible death for the birds.
The City of Key West and the Key West Wildlife Center have been working together for over 15 years to reduce the number of feral chickens roaming the streets. Since 2009, well over 15,000 birds have been relocated to the mainland.
Feeding feral chickens can result not only in poisoning and overpopulation, it can result in fines for violating the ordinance.
