FOR THREE WEEKS, former Mililani resident Jamey Ciesielski arrived at work tired and agitated after waking up at 2 a.m. to the unnerving sounds of seven roosters crowing next to his bedroom window. Dawn’s fowl racket
ruffles feathers of
sleepy residentsBy Rosemarie Bernardo
Star-Bulletin"I couldn't focus at work," said Ciesielski, a sports and fitness specialist at Hickam Air Force Base who decided to move away. "It became a nuisance."
From Laie to Waipahu and now Mililani, feral chickens have residents on edge.
Linda Haller, director of shelter operations for the Hawaiian Humane Society, said, "It's an ongoing problem."
Since January, about half a dozen complaints of feral chickens roaming in rural and residential areas islandwide have been called in to the Humane Society.
Laurel Cox, a resident of Laulea Town Houses on Kipapa Drive and Moenamanu Street, made a complaint to the chairman of the Mililani/Wapio/Melemanu Neighborhood Board at the beginning of March after the roosters' crows became overwhelming.
"It's very jarring," said Cox.
"They would crow into the evening and start again in the morning," she said.
"They would go off for hours."
Feral chickens also defecate on people's patios and tear up their gardens, Cox added.
She contacted the Hawaiian Humane Society but was told the organization did not have jurisdiction over feral chickens.
According to Haller, there are no rules or regulations on feral chickens.
The society cannot issue a citation until it finds out who owns the chickens, she said.
Maintenance workers of Kalani Gardens, 95-081 Kipapa Drive, have put up wire traps to capture the feral chickens.
Resident manager Jon Pasion said about 25 feral chickens were rounded up within the past three weeks.
Feral chickens picked up by the Humane Society are often transported to agricultural fields. Some of the chickens that wandered down the hill toward Kipapa Drive originated in Waipio Valley, Pasion said. Also, a number of chickens escape from residents breeding the animals. Others are dumped along the street in crates by drivers.
Haller said, "It's a result of people being irresponsible."
She said the problem may stem from heavy growth in areas.
"People are not so tolerant (of the chickens)," Haller also said.
Near Kipapa Drive, roosters are in the trees, living and breeding in open areas, said Ciesielski.
The noise intensified on March 6.
"They grew out of proportion," Ciesielski said. "When we left, there were 23 (chickens)."
Now residing in a duplex in West Loch Fairways in Ewa Beach, Ciesielski, along with his wife, Dawn, and their 6-year-old daughter, Kelsey, are able to sleep soundly.
"When I called my girlfriend (who lives on Kipapa Drive) last week, I could hear the roosters in the background," Dawn said. "I do not miss that at all."