Like many people I became fascinated with the roosters when i visited  Key West last spring.  They made me laugh.  They are everywhere, protected and allowed to roam free.  If you don’t see them, you certainly hear them.  We heard them from morning to night at our hotel whether we wanted a wake up call or not.  

For me, it was a little like the cows in India.  They roam free there and at first I took photos of every single one.  After a while, I got used to them and only snapped the most interesting.  

The Chickens in Key West were a little more difficult capture with my camera because if you approached them they skittered away.  Cows tended to stand around looking dumb.   As a result I got a lot of images of the backsides of the Key West Critters. .  

You might ask why so many chickens in Key West?   Well, according to Wikipedia is ……. “The story goes that Cuban settlers brought the chickens to the island, not only as a source of food, but also for sport. While hens were prized for their eggs, the roosters were prized for their cockfighting, making for good back-alley entertainment.”

The southernmost city outlawed cockfighting in the 1970s putting an end to this kind of fun.  The “Gypsy Chickens” as they are called were allowed to roam free.  

Yes, the chickens on Key West are protected.  By protected, they are not allowed to be harmed by the residents. However, thousands of chickens are removed off the streets every year to try to control the problem. The wildlife center on the island has a Community Trapping Program.

But there’s more. 

Not only do roosters roam free on this 8 square mile island at the tip of the Florida Keys, but store owners, restauranteurs and residences are adorned with the images.  I even found roosters applied to the elevator doors in a hotel.  

Roosters are part of what makes Key West  what it is—a goofy, touristy, funny and fun place to visit.