Why did the chicken cross the busy city street? To catch a bus to our sanctuary of course! Amazingly, many chickens here at WFAS come from New York City where one can find scores of live markets selling animals for food.  Some of the chickens who've made their way here escaped from delivery trucks, or were left behind still in cages after not being sold.

Fortunately, Aven the rooster made it to our sanctuary with a large group of chickens who had all been left behind in a parking lot after a busy weekend at a live market.  This rescue story is very similar to our rescued hens brought to the farm in October 2005.  You can read their story here.

Once at the farm, Aven started to get extra attention from everyone when we notice that he seemed smaller than all the other chicks.  After trying to feed Aven a grape, we realized that he has eyesight problems.  He could see the grape in front of him, but when he would try to peck at it, he would completely miss.  Eating with the rest of the flock proved to be difficult for him since it was pretty much hit or miss. So Aven spent a lot of time inside with us getting cuddled and eating from a food filled bucket.

Aven loves the attention, and whenever we leave the door open, he happily finds his way back into the kitchen where he knows some grapes in a bowl will be waiting.

When you visit the farm, make sure to shout out to Aven because he's the only chicken who will answer to that name by running to the gate and tilting his head to get a good look at you, even if it is cockeyed -- get it?

Photo by Robin Henderson.