But Thanksgiving may be the only day of year in Key West when turkey is talked about more than chicken, and it has nothing to do with what’s on the dinner menu. See, in Key West, chickens and roosters roam free on the streets. Story goes that chickens were once owned by residents during the Depression area, using them for eggs and, later, meat. When times improved, some of those people released those chickens from backyard coops, and they began to multiply. These “gypsy” chickens are protected by a city ordinance, and the city does not condone the inhumane treatment of the animals for reasons it explains here.
Gypsy chicken hanging out at the Southern Keys Cemetery
Some people love the chickens and roosters and some people hate them, as perfectly evidenced by this local Web site. The now-defunct Chicken Store also documented the “Chicken Wars” that pitted pro-chicken and anti-chicken residents against one another. But no matter how you feel about the chickens, they remain one of Key West’s interesting oddities, and one of the most photographed attractions on the island.
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