After noise complaints, Des Moines, Iowa, decided to decrease the number of chickens that one is allowed to have within city limits from 30 to 12. Chicken owners protested by holding a chicken parade last week, and now the city is revising its plan to allow for a full complement of chickens, so long as the chickens are licensed.
Chicken parade organizer Ed Fallon said the city seemed to be overreacting to a total of three complaints about chickens that were registered between the start of 2020 and June 2024. A small group of people holding chickens came out Monday to march from the Statehouse to City Hall.
Sanders said he asked Assistant City Manager Malcolm Hankins to draft an amendment that will be broadly accepted.
"After listening to Council Member concerns at the July 22 Council meeting, we believe there is a better path forward for an amendment to this ordinance at a later date," Hankins said in the release.
Des Moines is Iowa's capital city and boasts that it has "217,000 residents, 49 neighborhoods, over 4,000 acres of parkland and 81 miles of trails," but makes no public claim as to the total population of chickens.
I don't live in Des Moines but want an official chicken license now. Once it has established its chicken licensing regime I'm going to send in a picture of my dog with the fee and see what happens. Below you can watch embedded video of the parade.
BONUS VIDEO: the announcer saying "CHICKEN" in various editions of the exciting fighting game Tekken.
A chicken featured in one of the greatest news bloopers of all time, regularly featured here at Boing Boing.
Previously:
• FDA: stop eating Nyquil-fried Chicken
• Ohio Supreme Court rules that 'boneless' chicken can contain bones
• Breaking Bad: Los Pollos Hermanos reviewed on Yelp
