 |
| Long-tailed weasels live in Alabama, but they are rare. |
What in the heck happened to Willie J. Powell’s chickens?
That’s a question that I couldn’t help but ask when I ran
across some information the other day about an unusual incident that occurred
in Lower Peach Tree in 1972. News of the incident made its way into newspapers
across the state, and to this day, I don’t know if Powell ever got to the
bottom of exactly what happened.
Reports of the mysterious incident said that 42 chickens
belonging to Willie J. Powell of Lower Peach Tree were killed by some
“mysterious animal” on the night of Sun., Jan. 16, 1972. Powell told newspapers
that whatever it was that killed all of his chickens didn’t carry any of the
chickens away, but just left them laying where it killed them. Twenty-seven of
the chickens were found dead inside Powell’s fowl house, and the rest were
found lying outside.
Powell told reporters and photographers who went to the
scene that he had never seen anything like it in his 88 years. He also noted
that he planned to trap the “varmint.”
Those of you familiar with the Lower Peach Tree community
will know that it is located in the extreme southwest corner of Wilcox County,
not far from the Alabama River and the Clarke County line. Some readers will
also likely remember Powell, who was born on Feb. 11, 1884. He passed away at
the age of 93 on March 16, 1977 and is buried in the Powell Cemetery at Packers
Bend.
According to newspaper accounts of the chicken incident,
Powell seemed certain that some type of “mysterious animal” killed his chickens
in 1972, and one is left to wonder what type of animal could have done so.
Forty-two chickens are a lot of chickens, and the attack no doubt took a significant
amount of time and created a lot of noise. Interestingly, more of the chickens
were found dead inside his chicken house than were found outside.
My daughter is the chicken expert in my family, and I always
turn to her with my chicken-related questions. Much of what she knows about
chickens she learned through 4-H and through raising chickens on her own. She’s
so good with her chickens that she can handle the biggest of them like pets,
and she’s also been known to trade out fresh eggs for such modern necessities
as manicures and pedicures.
She said that since none of Powell’s chickens were carried
off, the culprit was probably a dog. Of course, lots of other animals have been
known to get into chicken pens, including bobcats, coyotes, foxes, hawks, house
cats, owls, raccoons and weasels. While more rare, other animals like opossums,
rats, skunks and snakes have also been known to attack and feed on chickens.
Newspaper accounts indicated that Powell had dealt with
chickens for many years, and he believed that some type of “mysterious animal”
killed his chickens. Perhaps he saw some unusual tracks or claw marks that led
him to think so, but whatever it was, he obviously felt like it was something out
of the ordinary. Maybe it was a large cat or some other type of rare predator.
Of course, we are left with the possibility that it wasn’t
an animal attack at all. It’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility that
the chickens could have been struck by lightning or maybe poisoned somehow. The
incident also occurred on a January night, so there’s an outside chance that
the chickens could have frozen to death.
With that said, it would be interesting to know if Powell
ever got to the bottom of what happened to his chickens. Maybe some of his
relatives remember more about the story. Perhaps he captured the varmint or saw
it when it returned for seconds. In the end, if anyone has more information
about this odd incident or about any other unusual animal deaths in Wilcox
County, please let me hear from you.
No comments:
Post a Comment