Stanley Park Chicken (S.P.C.)
I did an abrupt double-take the day I saw a chicken in Stanley Park.
I was driving home with some friends from a softball game in Brockton Oval.
For those who may be unfamiliar with Stanley Park, it is situated near Vancouver's downtown core, and is home to many things. There are tennis courts, a miniature railway, an aquarium, a plethora of gardens and trails, totem poles, and even a pitch an putt golf course. Surrounding the borders of the park is the seawall, measuring over 8km in length, and providing a daily source of exercise to joggers, cyclists and rollerbladers.
In addition to the hundreds of homeless squatters living in Stanley Park, it is frequented by hundreds of thousands of visitors and tourists every year. The type of wildlife generally seen in the park includes a variety of fish and waterfowl, raccoons, great blue herons, squirrels, turtles, frogs, skunks, coyotes, crows, eagles and hawks.
But rarely, if ever, does one see a chicken on the side of the road.
By the time I realized what I had seen, our car was accelerating quickly away from the chicken. "Oh my god, did you guys see that chicken beside the road?!" I exclaimed.
They had not.
Was the chicken a figment of my imagination? Perhaps it had escaped from the children's animal farm, located somewhere within the park. A fugitive chicken... a chicken on the run.
The following week, as we again departed from a softball game, I sat keenly beside the window, peering out at the dense foliage and massive trees as we drove out of the park. Sure enough, as we neared a familiar bend in the road, I saw it.
Quietly pecking and searching in the shrubs and brush, the chicken seemed unphased by the passing traffic. This time, I was quicker to point it out to my fellow passengers.
"Look! There is another chicken!"
Yes, we all were in agreement that it was truly odd to see the chicken in the park. Were there more chickens? How did they get here?
Several jokes flew around the car, the highlight of which was "SPC - Stanley Park Chicken - it's finger licking good!"
Driving away, conversation in the front of the car resumed, while I remained pensive about the chicken. I felt an inner glow of happiness to know I lived in a city, a very big city, a city with a population of 600,000 lying within a greater region of 2 million, the largest city in B.C., and the 3rd largest city in Canada, but more importantly, a city with wild chickens. The elusive Stanley Park Chicken - rarely seen, but always cherished.
Up until today, I thought I was the only one who had given the chicken so much thought. Perhaps I was the only one thinking of the chicken, because, as it turns out, I need a lesson in farmyard animals.
My Stanley Park Chicken wasn't a chicken after all.
No, it seems this rogue park visitor is ... a rooster.
The Stanley Park Rooster. SPR.
Further, not only I am not the only one to notice the rooster, just today an article appeared in the Vancouver Sun regarding the rooster.
Someone leaving roosters at Stanley Park petting zoo
VANCOUVER - For more than a decade someone has been dropping roosters off in Stanley Park.
As I am not a subscriber to the Vancouver Sun online, I was only able to view this little 'teaser'. It turns out, according to a lovely woman at the Vancouver Parks Board office, that someone has been abandoning roosters in the Park.
She herself had only noticed the rooster a month or so ago.
The roosters have not been captured and integrated into the park's 'animal farm' because their health is unknown - they may be unhealthy or diseased.
I don't think the chicken/rooster I saw was diseased, but what do I know.
Heck, I didn't even know he was a rooster.
I was driving home with some friends from a softball game in Brockton Oval.
For those who may be unfamiliar with Stanley Park, it is situated near Vancouver's downtown core, and is home to many things. There are tennis courts, a miniature railway, an aquarium, a plethora of gardens and trails, totem poles, and even a pitch an putt golf course. Surrounding the borders of the park is the seawall, measuring over 8km in length, and providing a daily source of exercise to joggers, cyclists and rollerbladers.
In addition to the hundreds of homeless squatters living in Stanley Park, it is frequented by hundreds of thousands of visitors and tourists every year. The type of wildlife generally seen in the park includes a variety of fish and waterfowl, raccoons, great blue herons, squirrels, turtles, frogs, skunks, coyotes, crows, eagles and hawks.
But rarely, if ever, does one see a chicken on the side of the road.
By the time I realized what I had seen, our car was accelerating quickly away from the chicken. "Oh my god, did you guys see that chicken beside the road?!" I exclaimed.
They had not.
Was the chicken a figment of my imagination? Perhaps it had escaped from the children's animal farm, located somewhere within the park. A fugitive chicken... a chicken on the run.
The following week, as we again departed from a softball game, I sat keenly beside the window, peering out at the dense foliage and massive trees as we drove out of the park. Sure enough, as we neared a familiar bend in the road, I saw it.
Quietly pecking and searching in the shrubs and brush, the chicken seemed unphased by the passing traffic. This time, I was quicker to point it out to my fellow passengers.
"Look! There is another chicken!"
Yes, we all were in agreement that it was truly odd to see the chicken in the park. Were there more chickens? How did they get here?
Several jokes flew around the car, the highlight of which was "SPC - Stanley Park Chicken - it's finger licking good!"
Driving away, conversation in the front of the car resumed, while I remained pensive about the chicken. I felt an inner glow of happiness to know I lived in a city, a very big city, a city with a population of 600,000 lying within a greater region of 2 million, the largest city in B.C., and the 3rd largest city in Canada, but more importantly, a city with wild chickens. The elusive Stanley Park Chicken - rarely seen, but always cherished.
Up until today, I thought I was the only one who had given the chicken so much thought. Perhaps I was the only one thinking of the chicken, because, as it turns out, I need a lesson in farmyard animals.
My Stanley Park Chicken wasn't a chicken after all.
No, it seems this rogue park visitor is ... a rooster.
The Stanley Park Rooster. SPR.
Further, not only I am not the only one to notice the rooster, just today an article appeared in the Vancouver Sun regarding the rooster.
Someone leaving roosters at Stanley Park petting zoo
VANCOUVER - For more than a decade someone has been dropping roosters off in Stanley Park.
As I am not a subscriber to the Vancouver Sun online, I was only able to view this little 'teaser'. It turns out, according to a lovely woman at the Vancouver Parks Board office, that someone has been abandoning roosters in the Park.
She herself had only noticed the rooster a month or so ago.
The roosters have not been captured and integrated into the park's 'animal farm' because their health is unknown - they may be unhealthy or diseased.
I don't think the chicken/rooster I saw was diseased, but what do I know.
Heck, I didn't even know he was a rooster.
posted by asthmatic at 9:32 AM
1 Comments:
After our experience at the petting farm, is there any remaining confusion about the differences between chickens, roosters, and hens? It is delightful to hear that you are happy about these feral roosters - evidently you have never co-habitated with a rooster. We have a few that live down the road and the bloody thing wakes up at 4 am (you know - cock a doodle doo). Not so fond of the roosters.
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