Rescue & Adoptions

2008 Featured Rescues

Stray “Mystery” Birds from Harlem Come Home

Darting through traffic and foraging for food on sidewalks as busses, cars and cabs whizzed by, Autumn turkey and her 13 chicken friends became the talk of New York City when they appeared near a vacant lot on 125th Street in Harlem and mystified residents who are still trying to figure out how they got there. As curious onlookers took pictures on camera phones to show disbelieving friends and swapped theories on the origins of the mystery birds, Autumn and her companions made headlines in the New York Times, alerting the ASPCA to the birds’ precarious existence on the streets.

Knowing all too well the dangers faced by the city’s stray animals, ASPCA employees set out right away to recover Autumn and the chickens and bring them to safety. And, when they arrived on the scene, they were glad that they had acted as fast as they did, especially when they picked up the birds and discovered that, under their feathers, they were so thin you could feel their bones. They also learned that, prior to the rescue, there had been even more birds on the street, but several had already died or been hit by cars and others were captured by people intending to kill them – more evidence that each moment meant the difference between life and death for Autumn and her friends.

How the 14 birds ended up in Harlem remains a mystery, but where they had been before is perfectly clear. Despite all the excitement the birds caused by turning up on peoples’ morning commutes, the reality is that sightings of chickens, turkeys and other farm animals are not as uncommon in the city as people think. Brought into bustling metropolises for sale and slaughter at live animal markets, farm animals escape all the time and end up running for their lives and, in the case of Autumn and her companions, doing whatever they can to survive. Many such live market refugees, more than 200 in the past two years, have found their way to Farm Sanctuary – including 30 chickens and a turkey, who in August 2007, were recovered from the same spot as Autumn was.

Like the other animals we have taken in from New York City in the past, Autumn and her friends were malnourished, sickly and in very poor physical condition when they arrived at our door. In addition to being frighteningly thin, the chickens were missing sizeable patches of feathers and were loaded with parasites. They also had mutilated beaks – a tell-tale sign of their past lives on factory farms before they ended up at live markets, which are often used as dumping grounds for “spent” hens. Autumn, too, likely once lived on a factory farm, as she had also been de-beaked, as well as de-toed. The amount of suffering these animals endured before they even wound up on the streets, and caused such a stir, is difficult to comprehend.

These days, Autumn and her friends keep a lower profile, but they don’t seem to mind the peace and tranquility one bit. Settled down together in a safe and comfortable barn at our New York Shelter, the famous “mystery” birds now spend their days basking in the sun, grooming one another and nesting side-by-side, digging into the special mash of fruit cocktail and grain that is helping them gain much-needed weight, and doing all the things that every chicken and turkey wants and should be able to do. Away from the spotlight, they are living without want, worry or fear for the very first time and are certainly making the most of their new, quiet country life.