Backyard fowl a clucking mess
By JESSICA GARRISON
Los Angeles Times
Article Last Updated: 06/08/2008 01:44:46 AM PDT
Click photo to enlarge
Chickens are kept in a backyard enclosure at a South Los Angeles... (LUIS SINCO/Associated Press)
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LOS ANGELES When her neighbor's roosters and chickens persisted in running through her yard, G. Stone took matters into her own hands.
She marched next door and issued a warning: Do something about the uninvited guests or the birds "were going in my pot."
The incursions stopped. But Stone, a retired Los Angeles County librarian who lives northwest of Watts, shook her head in exasperation as she recalled the incident.
"I've lived here for 50 years," she said. "All of a sudden, there's an influx of chickens. You're not supposed to have chickens in the city."
For many, the image of South Los Angeles is that of a paved, parched, densely packed urban grid. But increasingly, it is a place where untold numbers of barnyard animals chickens, roosters, goats, geese, ducks, pigs and even the odd pony are being tended in tiny backyard spaces.
"Most people don't realize just how many farm animals there are in the city," said Ed Boks, the general manager of the city's Animal Services department.
Indeed, about a block from the beauty parlor where Stone was getting her hair done earlier this month, a pair of goats chewed something dark and unidentifiable as they stood placidly near the traffic whizzing by on a nearby street.
The cacophony of cock-a-doodle-doos south of Interstate 10 is one of the louder manifestations of a demographic change that has transformed South Los Angeles in the last few decades.
Once primarily a black community
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and still the cultural and political heart of the state's black population the area has absorbed tens of thousands of immigrants from Mexico and Central America and is now predominantly Latino.
For some folks, the rooster has become a potent symbol of the way their neighborhood is changing.
"Sometimes, I think it's Mexico," said Tony Johnson, who lives in Southeast L.A. He confessed that after being roused early some mornings, he has fantasized about silencing the birds permanently. "Boom. Boom. Boom," he said, pantomiming how he would do it.
In South Los Angeles, on the other hand, the crowing and bleating, quacking, honking, oinking and neighing has been a growing source of irritation, with callers lighting up city phone lines demanding that officials do something.
Take the recent rooster-related activities near a local street.
An 11-year-old boy was chased home from school by a rooster, according to his mother, who did not want his name published.
Animal Services Officer Jose Gonzalez, who patrols the southern part of the city, said he is getting about five calls a week about rooster noise. He had reports about a pig running down a street and a man who kept goats in his backyard and posted signs advertising slaughterhouse services.
The rules about keeping animals in Los Angeles are complicated. For the most part, Animal Services officers rely on distance requirements, which vary from animal to animal. Roosters must be kept in an enclosed pen 20 feet from their owner's house and 100 feet from any neighbor's house. Other chickens, on the other hand, can be 35 feet from a neighbor's house, while horses must maintain a distance of 75 feet.
Many residents, such as Stone, who was plagued by her neighbor's birds in her yard, took pains to stress that it was the roosters they deplored, not their owners.
Near where she spoke, the distinctive crow of an unseen bird cut through the noise of a police helicopter and the hum of traffic. Cock-a-doodle-doo, the bird cried. A moment later, a goose honked in response.
SOME PEOPLE JUST LOVE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT EVERYTHING!!!
LOL she acted like roosters and chickens are different animals too....
By JESSICA GARRISON
Los Angeles Times
Article Last Updated: 06/08/2008 01:44:46 AM PDT
Click photo to enlarge
Chickens are kept in a backyard enclosure at a South Los Angeles... (LUIS SINCO/Associated Press)
* «
* 1
* »
LOS ANGELES When her neighbor's roosters and chickens persisted in running through her yard, G. Stone took matters into her own hands.
She marched next door and issued a warning: Do something about the uninvited guests or the birds "were going in my pot."
The incursions stopped. But Stone, a retired Los Angeles County librarian who lives northwest of Watts, shook her head in exasperation as she recalled the incident.
"I've lived here for 50 years," she said. "All of a sudden, there's an influx of chickens. You're not supposed to have chickens in the city."
For many, the image of South Los Angeles is that of a paved, parched, densely packed urban grid. But increasingly, it is a place where untold numbers of barnyard animals chickens, roosters, goats, geese, ducks, pigs and even the odd pony are being tended in tiny backyard spaces.
"Most people don't realize just how many farm animals there are in the city," said Ed Boks, the general manager of the city's Animal Services department.
Indeed, about a block from the beauty parlor where Stone was getting her hair done earlier this month, a pair of goats chewed something dark and unidentifiable as they stood placidly near the traffic whizzing by on a nearby street.
The cacophony of cock-a-doodle-doos south of Interstate 10 is one of the louder manifestations of a demographic change that has transformed South Los Angeles in the last few decades.
Once primarily a black community
Advertisement
and still the cultural and political heart of the state's black population the area has absorbed tens of thousands of immigrants from Mexico and Central America and is now predominantly Latino.
For some folks, the rooster has become a potent symbol of the way their neighborhood is changing.
"Sometimes, I think it's Mexico," said Tony Johnson, who lives in Southeast L.A. He confessed that after being roused early some mornings, he has fantasized about silencing the birds permanently. "Boom. Boom. Boom," he said, pantomiming how he would do it.
In South Los Angeles, on the other hand, the crowing and bleating, quacking, honking, oinking and neighing has been a growing source of irritation, with callers lighting up city phone lines demanding that officials do something.
Take the recent rooster-related activities near a local street.
An 11-year-old boy was chased home from school by a rooster, according to his mother, who did not want his name published.
Animal Services Officer Jose Gonzalez, who patrols the southern part of the city, said he is getting about five calls a week about rooster noise. He had reports about a pig running down a street and a man who kept goats in his backyard and posted signs advertising slaughterhouse services.
The rules about keeping animals in Los Angeles are complicated. For the most part, Animal Services officers rely on distance requirements, which vary from animal to animal. Roosters must be kept in an enclosed pen 20 feet from their owner's house and 100 feet from any neighbor's house. Other chickens, on the other hand, can be 35 feet from a neighbor's house, while horses must maintain a distance of 75 feet.
Many residents, such as Stone, who was plagued by her neighbor's birds in her yard, took pains to stress that it was the roosters they deplored, not their owners.
Near where she spoke, the distinctive crow of an unseen bird cut through the noise of a police helicopter and the hum of traffic. Cock-a-doodle-doo, the bird cried. A moment later, a goose honked in response.
SOME PEOPLE JUST LOVE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT EVERYTHING!!!
LOL she acted like roosters and chickens are different animals too....
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