A post by Maynard
The chicken rights activists at United Poultry Concerns have declared May 4 to be International Respect for Chickens Day.
Pictured above is the memorial statue of Roscoe the Rooster in Takoma Park, Maryland. This was taken at the massive chicken parade and rally in 2005. The text on the plaque reads:
ROSCOE
1989-1999
This free-spirited rooster, who chose to live in our town, was fed and protected by Alan Daugharthy and Alma Keating, and brought joy into our urban lives.
You may be wondering why a town would build a memorial statue of a chicken. The Takoma Park Newsletter of July, 1999 reported the tale of Roscoe’s commemoration:
Takoma Park citizens have begun a drive to raise money for a memorial to Roscoe the Rooster, whose smug and sure-footed strutting around the main streets of the city ended abruptly under the wheels of a vehicle in February…. The rooster, said to be both loved and hated by the citizenry who were exposed to Roscoe’s crowings, lived in the back yard of a rooming house situated near Mark’s Kitchen on Carroll Avenue, Takoma Park’s main street. He was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver near the intersection of Carroll and Laurel Avenues Feb. 15.
A pundit on the RoadsideAmerica site claims that…
Roscoe also has been hailed as the “recovery rooster,” because he overcame a serious bout of depression shortly before he was run over, and in the words of Takoma Voice Reporter, Myron Bretholz, “He was learning to live again, he was coming out of his shell.” Prior to Roscoe’s death, the rooster had had two run-ins with the Takoma Park police, which caused many to suspect he died as the result of foul play.
…as opposed to “fowl play”, no doubt. But enough about Roscoe. Let’s talk about me.
To be honest, I admit to hypocrisy in my diet. I enjoy the taste of animals, but I leave the slaughtering to be done by other people, far removed from my dinner table. If I had to kill my own food, I’d likely give up meat. So I’m not entirely unsympathetic to the vegans, except that they’re so flamboyantly whacky. Or at least that’s true of the ones who show up in the news.
Then again, a few of the more charismatic nutjobs lend appeal to their kooky movements. For example, some of you gentleman may recall the campaign where Dominique Swain bared her soul in an impassioned protest against fur coats. Yes, for mature gentlemen only, here’s that PETA photo of Ms. Dominique baring her soul. How could any rational man argue against such naked logic? Indeed!
When our daughter was small she raised chickens and sold eggs. We bought a mixed batch of a hundred chicks and butchered all the roosters except one. He was spared because of his beautiful plumage. One day when the child was feeding her flock, the rooster flew at her and pecked her into a corner of the coop. I was nearby, and came to the rescue.
We ate chicken that night.
Don’t you love happy endings?
Oh come, the entire country of France uses a chicken for a lot of their symbols. (One of the French military awards for valor actually has a chicken – excuse me rooster – engraved on the medal.
I suspect fowl play too. How one tells that a rooster is coming out of depression and was embracing life in coming out of his shell is beyond me, unless they speak chicken. The linguist ability of some of these nut jobs is amazing.
They have a parade to honor this chicken… words fail me…
I was born in Takoma Park MD and later in life my work took me there on a weekly basis. I can tell you it used to be a quiet bedroom community of regular people.
Then it got hip, and the college professors and writers and artists started moving in. They protested everything and didn’t mow their lawns in order to be ‘natural’. They even attempted to ban lawn mowers. Takoma Park is 100% radical socialist hey let’s all drive ancient VWs and we’ll make our own soap which we’ll use to bathe once a week whether we need to or not.
But Takoma Park used to be nice.