Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

It's an age old question after all.  I never really wondered before why it was important enough for the first person to have asked why the chicken crossed the road.  Does it matter what side of the road the chicken is on?  Well, as I discovered barrelling down Cambridge Road on a fully loaded scooter (1 Jenny, 1 Siobhan), the point at which it matters why the chicken crosses the road is when you realize that the chicken is on the road and that impact is imminent.  Possibly due to my post surgical status I may have had a decreased range of motion in my neck and not sighted the chicken soon enough.  I laid on full brakes and willed my scooter to stop.  Shibby let out a little gasp of horror.  And the chicken leaped into the air and fully splayed his body out in mid air in front of the tire while letting out a death cluck "te-GAAAAAWK."  At that point I closed my eyes and squeezed the brakes even harder.  "Oh my God.  Did we just hit a chicken?" I said.  At a full stop but unable to turn my head to look behind I peered over the handlebars looking for evidence of feathers in my tire.  Shibby, who WAS able to turn her head more than 45 degrees said "No, he's still going."  "Whew, I thought we might have grazed him...it was close."  The chicken was indignant, but most definitely alive and at worst missing a wing feather, and gave no sign of explaining why he chose to dart into traffic at that particular moment.

random chicken hanging out in Bermuda

Bermuda actually has a lot of feral chickens.  As I understand it, someone's chickens got loose when a hurricane damaged their enclosure, and now the little critters roam everywhere.  Well, they used to until Bermuda got into culling chickens, via poison I believe.  All that glitters is not gold they say, and that is true enough.  Bermuda is beautiful, but there are times that it needs to be called to task for its policies.  The chicken cull is one of those times.  I see far less chickens than I used to, and I fear the tactics used were grim.  Even Fido, who used to hop on my shoe looking for crumbs when I sat outside for coffee at work, has disappeared.  Security said the lab staff were the worst culprits in encouraging the chickens...I will admit they did start following anyone wearing dark blue scrubs.

Animal cruelty is not addressed frequently enough in Bermuda.  While there are many diligent people and groups working to help animals, there is still much to be done.  One thing Bermuda IS being called to task for today though, is that international notice has been made of a long standing raw sewage drain that goes directly into the ocean off of Hungry Bay.  Today the media announced that the US Consulate is warning American traveller's of this, that the bacterial levels can reach 4 times the acceptable US standard leading to infections, and that traveller's should consider Hepatitis A and typhoid shots.  Two other headlines claim "Bathing in Bermuda's water does not pose a health risk - Govt," and "Bermudian scientist calls for more testing," but neither discuss another important element.  In 2014, should a country which prides itself as a tourist product showcasing beautiful beach beauty be pumping raw sewage into the ocean near those same beaches and its famous coral reef?  Health reasons aside, is this appropriate in this day and age from an environmental aspect, from a marketing and tourism aspect as well?  I don't think people really need to go out and get a typhoid shot (my guesstimate on risk assessment is that recommendation is overkill), but I do think there is a better solution, and I do think Bermuda needs to get its act together and find it.  I realize it costs money at a bad time in the island's finances, but it will cost even more in the future.  This truly is a stain on Bermuda's famous pink undershorts as far as international appeal goes.  I hope to see a speedy response, and kudos to the consulate for applying pressure where it is due.

That's my commentary on the local news today. Time to go to work.