Pembroke residents are angered by hundreds of wild chickens in the Marsh Folly dump area and are concerned that nothing is being done by Government.

Andre Nesbitt and other residents in the area have been woken each morning at 4 a.m. by hundreds of feral chickens for close to a year now and say the problem is getting worse.

Mr. Nesbitt said: "It's a big concern. We have all been talking about it.

"Early in the morning these chickens are crowing, crowing, crowing and its like a 4 o'clock alarm. And if you have to make 8.30 a.m. work and you have to be up at 4, it's hard that day at work, its like a 12-16 hour day you've been up."

According to Mr. Nesbitt there are close to 500 feral chickens in the area and they continue to multiply. He contacted the Department of Environmental Protection and the Marsh Folly Dump, but neither did anything about the problem he explained.

"We are all concerned about it because the chickens are getting worse and worse. I don't know if Government is doing anything about it — it's getting out of hand.

"Who is responsible for getting rid of these wild animals? You've got them at Mid-Ocean, down by the Airport, Spicelands... something's got to be done," said Mr. Nesbitt.

Donetta Smith experienced a similar problem when she lived on Union Street in Pembroke and even moved to escape the noise.

She told The Royal Gazette: "First thing in the morning about 5 o'clock they (would) be crowing like crazy. That was hard because I need to get my rest and it was always hard for me to get to work in the morning because I need my couple of hours sleep."

The Royal Gazette understands there is no Government department that deals directly with wild chickens, however, Minister of Environment El James said the problem was being discussed by his ministry.

"It is something we are looking into right now, it is a problem all over the Island," he said.

"That's part of our discussions right now, that is a big concern of ours and we realise that we have to tackle it soon."

Another spokesman from the Ministry of the Environment and Sports said: "The Ministry is fully aware that feral chickens are a problem, especially for farmers.

"We have been working with the Department of Environmental Protection and the community to develop a solution. However, the solution has been elusive.

The spokesperson welcomed input from the public and noted that Environmental Protection had tried trapping and other methods "with limited success".