Why chickens are crossing the highway

Sean Kellingray and the one remaining rooster of Moir's Hill. Photo / Herald on Sunday.

Just call him Henry.

He's a lone rooster, the sole survivor of a population of wild chooks at Moir's Hill, north of Auckland.

For years, families have dropped off chickens that no longer lay or are no longer loved at the State Highway 1 carpark.

Now, cars are pulling up for another reason: to kidnap the wild chooks. And the only conceivable motive can be Christmas dinner.

The carpark along State Highway 1 just south of Warkworth has been home to chickens for years but now only one rooster remains.

The Coffee Kitchen owner Sean Kellingray has been operating his business at the carpark for more than a year.

"Families come in their cars and the dad will ask me if people feed the chickens. I say yes and he says, 'good because we need a new place for Gertrude or Henry'," Kellingray says.

"The kids get out of the car and they are all saying goodbye to Gertrude. She might have stopped laying eggs. Or Henry might be a cockerel and the neighbours are complaining because he's cock-a-doodle-dooing too loudly in the mornings so they want to get rid of it."

Kellingray says it eases the parents' conscience, persuading themselves they are giving the chickens a happy life with new friends.

"But it's a hard life for a chicken here," he warns.

"If you are small and ugly you will have a long life. If you are big and beautiful you won't last long," he says.

Red Beach resident John Gjaltema says he has been visiting Moir's Hill for years. "There used to be heaps of chickens here, but now there's only one. It's a shame."

Up to 13 chickens had pecked around the carpark at the colony's peak, but now motorists are taking them as quickly as they are dropped off.

Kellingray has reported the chicken-nappings to police but they told him it was not illegal.

"When I left here three days ago there were five," he says. "I arrived today and four were gone. It's a recession out there - people are desperate.

"I see them being taken into the car. Families arrive and they are not interested in stopping for a break. I can tell if people come here and they are just interested in the chickens. They lure them over with food, grab them and break their necks. I feel sorry for the chickens."

Some of those trying to catch the chickens claim they want them as a pet.

"Yeah right. I tell them to go to Warkworth pet shop."

In Auckland, Cornwall Park manager Michael Ayrton says about a dozen chickens have been abandoned at the inner-city park, beneath the shadow of One Tree Hill - a welcome addition to the park.

But he too has heard reports of people stealing the abandoned chickens, though he has not witnessed it first hand.

"Kids enjoy them," he says. "Hens and chickens give people a lot of pleasure but we're not too happy when there are too many roosters."

One thing is certain: too many cockerels isn't a problem at Moir's Hill - as lone rooster Henry might testify.