Wild Chickens Roam San Juan Bautista.

The small california town of San Juan Bautista (pop. 1549) is wrestling with this question: Should the chicken hit the road?

The small town, with its Mission San Juan Bautista made famous by Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, is grappling with wild chickens strutting down its downtown sidewalks and being fed by tourists and locals alike.

Now, the city council is considering a resolution to made feeding the feral chickens illegal:

"It’s a policy issue the council is wrestling with," said City Manager Janice McClintock, who stepped into the long-simmering chicken dispute as soon as she started her job just five weeks ago. "Both the pro-chicken and the anti-chicken forces make some good points."

In a town of fewer than 2,000, almost everyone has a well-defined point of view when it comes to the chickens. The pro-chicken forces in this hamlet 45 miles south of San Jose talk up civic identity; the anti-chicken forces mutter darkly about bird flu. The boosters point to delighted tourists; the critics point to speckled sidewalks.

Very interesting article at the LA Times: Link