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Chickens attack toddlers in California

Henpecked by angry citizens, the Sonoma City Council calls foul on free-roaming birds.

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By J.A. Getzlaff

20000526120000 | Ah, Sonoma, Calif. -- rural town-cum-tourist spot. Grapes drip from the vines, mom-and-pop companies proffer organic goat cheeses and the leafy town plaza, lined by gift shops, features meandering chickens.

Everything was fine until a couple of bad eggs began acting up. According to a Reuters report, several of the plaza's chickens, mostly roosters, developed a bad attitude and began to take out their aggression on toddlers.

After what the news service called "a flurry of attacks on neighborhood children," a particularly incensed rooster jumped an 18-month-old boy without provocation, and the battle between chickens and parents took off.

Although the attacks were attributed to too much testosterone -- not enough hens among the roosters -- Sonoma County parents were unsympathetic. Monica Garcia, the mother of the assaulted toddler, told Reuters, "It's not charming when you have to see your baby attacked ... Seeing the blood going down his face and seeing him screaming ... I can't sleep at night."

The brutality of that attack was the last straw: The Sonoma City Council promptly banned chickens from the square.

"I don't know if it's possible to envision a roosterless plaza," said Councilman Ken Brown, "but I have to tell you, when it comes to a question between a kid and a chicken, it's the kid."

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