The day-to-day appearance of public spaces changed drastically when coronavirus forced people around the world to limit or completely cut off social interaction. What happens when a usually congested area becomes devoid of people?
Animals move in! For the past few months, there have been stories from around the world of native wildlife species walking down public streets, nibbling on fancy landscaping, or entering the subway station.
Residents of Titirangi, a small town in New Zealand, recently emerged from lockdown to discover a flock of feral chickens had declared it home! Apparently this has been a problem before: in 2019, there were an estimated 250 birds living in this town. Trapping and rehoming methods brought the population almost to zero right before lockdown began.
The population probably grew a bit on their own, but most of the additional chickens most likely came from outside of the town. The place is well known for its resident chicken population, and so people have most likely dumped unwanted chickens there, in hopes of them being incorporated into the flock. And so, after many months without human interaction, the chicken population has completely taken over!
Hopefully, the town will quickly be able to regain control of the birds.