WEISER, Idaho — Nearly 300 animals were rescued from a small rental home in Weiser by the Washington County Sheriff's Department and the Idaho Humane Society. A team of veterinarians and staff from the Idaho Humane Society were at the rescue site to evaluate the health of the animals.
The approximately 900 square foot home had over 100 chickens inside the home along with around 15 cats and even more chickens outside in kennels.
According to a news release from the Idaho Humane Society, these were the animals found at the property:
- 247 chickens and guinea fowl
- 21 ducks: 1 Indian Runner, several Cayugas, and domestic mallard
- 8 parakeets
- 1 robin
- 1 starling
- 15 cats
- 3 dogs
The Idaho Humane Society has already started adopting out the chickens but they need the community’s help in finding these birds new homes.
“We typically see rescues of up to 100 animals at a time, typically dogs and cats, not usually chickens and definitely not over 100 chickens living inside a home,” Idaho Humane Society Communications Manager Kristine Schellhaas said.
The owner decided to stop by for a home inspection and was surprised to learn hundreds of chickens were living there without authorization.
@IdahoHumane needs your help in adopting a large amount of chickens that were just reacused from a a home in Weiser. About 100 of the chickens were living inside a 900 square foot home. pic.twitter.com/QNhB20eChM
— Nicole Camarda (@CamardaNicole) June 30, 2021
“They reached out to the local sheriff which is Washington County. Washington County then reached out to the Idaho Humane Society to see if we could step in and assist,” Schellhaas said.
It's unclear exactly why there were so many animals in the home, but the Idaho Humane Society says the person living in the home was cooperative and signed all of the animals over. The Idaho Humane Society is doing free adoptions for all the fowl found on the property.
"We are really hoping to get as many of them adopted out as possible and to save as many as we can so we can definitely use the community help,” Schellhaas said. “If everyone just added a few more chickens to their flock we could definitely get a lot of these chickens adopted out.”
Schellhaas added that IHS is not equipped for long-term chicken care so the more chickens that can be adopted out, the better.
