Torrevieja's clucking nuisance: The battle to clear the streets of chickens
An avian flu alert is fowling up plans to rehome hundreds of feral birds roaming the Costa Blanca city
Not to put too fine a point on it, but Torrevieja has a chicken problem. Hundreds of feral roosters, hens and chicks have made themselves at home in the city's squares, parks and streets, and getting rid of them is proving far trickier than anyone expected.
The council awarded a contract worth €23,600 to specialist firm Adda Ops back in October to round up what's estimated to be around 700 birds roaming public spaces. So far, just over 125 have been captured, and progress has ground to a halt thanks to the current avian flu alert.
The Valencian regional government has made it clear that none of the collected birds can be moved outside the municipality until restrictions are lifted, leaving the council scrambling to find temporary space in the local animal shelter, which was never designed for poultry.
There's no avian flu in Torrevieja itself, councillor Concha Sala was keen to point out, although neighbouring Guardamar has had to cull more than 50 birds in its Reina Sofía park as a precaution.
The problem has its roots in the 1990s, when Las Naciones Park opened with a small animal enclosure that included ducks and chickens. Over time, the birds escaped and spread, and they've been multiplying ever since, turning up everywhere from hospital gardens to the branches of trees near the seafront.
Images that went viral last summer brought the town some unwanted international attention, and the council is clearly keen to get the situation under control before the Easter tourism season gets into full swing.
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