Dog suspected of killing nearly 200 chickens on local farm

One local farming family is dealing with the deaths of almost 200 chickens, but it’s how it happened that has the family upset.

Farmer Wendy Swore said her son Thomas woke up Wednesday morning to find 184 of the family’s chickens lining the floor of the chicken coop.

The family suspects a dog was the culprit, since they said dogs will break into chicken coops and kill the chickens for fun, versus a fox or coyote, which will kill a couple chickens for food.

“They were just everywhere on the ground and a lot of them were in piles,” Thomas said. “You can still see a lot of the feathers and everything was just shredded. Nothing was carried away for food. It was just shredded.”

Swore said its common for dogs to be dropped-off in the middle of rural farmland, outside of city limits, or for dogs to get loose at night if they aren’t brought inside or tied-up. She said when this happens, they start looking for trouble.

“When you have animals and you’re not responsible with them, you don’t fix them, and you don’t tie them up, you’re just asking for things to happen to your neighbors and to people who live out in the country where people are dumping their animals. Be a responsible pet owner so something like this doesn’t happen.”

Swore estimates each chicken was worth about $20 each, and the insurance will not cover the thousands of dollars in losses the family sustained.

Fort Hall Fish and Game set up a dog trap outside of the chicken coop walls, with one of the dead chickens placed inside as bait, in hopes of capturing the dog responsible.

Swore said the chickens were all brought inside every night, but the layers of wire and electrical fencing wasn’t enough to keep the dog out.

Portneuf Animal Welfare Society representative Mary Deeb said it’s also critical to spay and neuter your pets, saying they could travel up to three miles each night looking for trouble if they haven’t had this procedure done.

“If you don’t, they could get a little crazy,” Deeb said. “Keep a tight reign on your animals. This is just a horrific situation.”

Deeb said PAWS will sell certificates for low-cost spay and neuter clinics at the Petco in Chubbuck every Saturday from one to two o’clock.

Mary Malone, the Swores’ neighbor, started a Facebook page called Operation Share A Chicken to help collect a chickens donated by the community. It can be accessed through the Swore Farms Facebook page here.