Tiffany Mooney went to view sea lions, but found dead chickens instead.
The Courtenay office manager was “shocked and disgusted” Sunday afternoon when she discovered between 25 and 30 chickens dumped on the beach above the tide line at Kitty Coleman Provincial Park, north of Courtenay.
“It was very weird, and disturbing,” said Mooney.
What’s more, when she went back to the area Monday afternoon near the park’s boat ramp, the dead chickens remained there, untouched, even though Mooney had called the RCMP on Sunday to report seeing the birds.
A call to the Comox Valley RCMP to ask about the dead birds, or if a file on the matter had been opened, was not returned on Monday. The Comox Valley Regional District said the park is provincial jurisdiction.
A spokesman for the Environment Ministry, which oversees B.C. Parks, said late Monday that the B.C. Conservation Officer Service is aware of the incident and investigating “the unlawful dumping” of the chicken carcasses.
Mooney said the chickens — Red Rock laying hens — did not appear to be butchered or mutilated from an attack. They were intact and there was no blood on their bodies. She believes they were dumped by a farmer, perhaps to serve as food for the many bald eagles that frequent the area.
Mooney posted a photo of the dead chickens on Facebook, generating a wave of revulsion in the comments section and possible theories that the hens were killed in a mink attack or that the chickens died from eating rat poison.
“You would think if the chickens ate rat poison that a responsible farmer would burn the birds,” said Mooney. If the cause of dead was poisoning, she’s worried that scavengers like crows, eagles and mammals — even dogs — might eat the carcasses.
“When I was back today — 24 hours later — they still had not been touched. There were tons of eagles in the area, but there are no signs of pecking or anything. Somebody has to do something about this.”
