Flock of chickens rescued after being found near Kelowna

Dozens of chickens were rescued this weekend after they appeared to be abandoned near Kelowna.

Late on April 7, a post was made to a local social media group showing over 30 chickens roaming near Postil Lake Road.

Quick to comment was Shelby Langelaan, who runs West Coast Animal Advocates, an organization dedicated to saving the lives of animals in need. She and her husband were among those who helped round up the birds.

“It’s an area that’s definitely out of the ordinary for chickens to be in,” she told Kelowna10. “When we got there, there were literally chickens everywhere. They were on side-by-side trails, marshy areas, and we saw someone else and her husband who caught maybe 10 of them.”

The group of rescuers, she said, spent a couple of hours catching upwards of 35 chickens.

Many of the birds were in rough shape, she said, including suffering from respiratory issues, missing feathers, and generally not well kept.

Eventually, all the chickens were taken to homes in southeast Kelowna, or the Warren Peace Bunny Sanctuary.

Unfortunately, Langelaan said this type of scene isn’t new, and has been happening over the last six months.

“There’s been chickens dumped in the dead of winter up near Postil Road, very similar to where these ones were found,” she explained. “There were chickens dumped up Oyama Lake Road before, and a month and a half ago, up Beaver Lake Road, there were four small dogs up there that we were grabbing.”

She said if anyone is struggling to care for animals, they should reach out for help to those who know what to do with them.

“There are groups like us, and there’s also caring individuals that live here in the Okanagan that are always willing to help,” Langelaan said. “Rather than dumping the animals, give them a chance reach out, and see if we can find resources to give them a better life and give them a chance at not being dumped and discarded where they have no way to survive.”