Chickens and the road - the source of one of life's most eternal questions, yet to be resolved.
I remember the chickens from our last visit. They are everywhere. I am taking this trip more seriously and asking more questions. Why did the chicken cross the road? No, not that question. Why do you see chickens running around in Hawaii. Are they something like cows in India? My science background kicked in and I decided the chicken must be an invasive species. Some hipsters decided they wanted to be farmers and purchased a few chickens. When they learned that chickens kept in a small coop start to smell, they tired of their venture and being unwilling to eat their pets released them into the wild. The story of the Asian carp repeated on a small island.
I decided to check on my guess using Google. I found an article in the NYTimes that speculated about these birds. I wasn't far off (except for that part about the hipster farmers). Evidently, the mongoose population on Kauai has been in decline allowing the "feral" (not to be confused with free range) chickens to reproduce without a check.
When this happened with the snow goose population in North Dakota, the Game and Fish added a spring hunting season. It turns out that the birds that made it south and then back were pretty smart. It also turns out the fields are muddy in the spring and setting up decoys was more trouble than most were willing to endure. I am guessing shooting chickens is also out of the question. Not very sporting.
It appears that the only natural enemy of the Hawaiin chicken is the automobile that and the bird's silly drive to get to the other side of the road.
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