INUVIK
Serendipity, a laying hen rescued from Inuvik's solid waste facility early last week, has found a safe home.

Raven Firth has adopted Serendipity, a chicken saved from the dump early last week. Firth will be taking care of the hen and nursing her back to health. - photo courtesy of Raven Firth

"Her comb was partially torn off and frozen and her feathers were ripped out," said Angela McInnes, local animal-welfare activist.

"We named her Serendipity. She's healing, she's eating, she's a very happy little chicken."

The chicken was found in a box at the dump by a few men dropping things off but McInnes' father was also there. He took the chicken home to his daughter, Angela McInnes. She gave it to Raven Firth, who is caring for it.

McInnes said there were six other chickens at the dump, all dead.

Jim Sawkins, the town's director of protective services, said the matter was still under investigation and that while bylaw was aware of who was responsible for the chickens being at the dump, he could not tell the Drum.

"My understanding at this point is that (the chickens) were not fit for consumption," he said.

"The one that was left alive was not intended. There was no malice involved."

RCMP Sgt. Scott Young said although there is a criminal code entry for animal cruelty, the local bylaw department was handling the situation.

Sawkins said it's bylaw's job to respond to complaints, adding that he didn't believe it was at the point where it was "about the law."

"I don't foresee from, our perspective, there being any other further action taken," he said.

"If there had been malicious intent, that would be something else."

Still, McInnes said he wasn't pleased with the situation.

As a volunteer with the NWTSPCA in the region, she said that if anyone is looking to dispose of any kind of animal, they can call her for help.

"There are alternatives," she said.

"The NWTSPCA would have been glad to take those chickens. We could have sent them south to go live there."

McInnes said that Serendipity, however, would be kept in Inuvik.

"After everything that happened to her, she deserves a good life," she said. "We're keeping her."

McInnes also said the situation was particularly bad in a Northern context, where so much of the population is more familiar with killing their food than the average city dweller.

"Any hunters' and trappers' kids know from the time they can walk that you wring the necks," she said.

"It's about respect for the animal and a clean death."

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