Dumped hen stumps store employees

By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

HAYDEN — This case ruffled some feathers.

As Flour Mill Natural Foods employees were placing garbage in a dumpster Monday night, a wounded chicken, in a cooler with straw, was spotted inside the metal bin.

"I heard a scream outside, and my daughter (15-year-old Priya Piller) came running inside," said Rob Piller, the business's owner.

"When she said there was a cooler in the dumpster and a chicken inside of it, I thought it was no big deal at first, thinking it was a dead chicken. Then she mentioned that it was alive."

Dacia Cottrell, an employee, saw the Rhode Island red hen after it was discovered at the business at 88 W. Commerce Drive in Hayden.

"I could tell there was something wrong with it," she said.

It was initially reported to the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office that the chicken may have been shot or severely abused, but further review by an animal control officer and a woman who owns chickens indicated it more likely the bird was attacked by another animal.

The woman took the chicken in and tried to save it, but the hen died a few hours later.

"She tried to nurse it back to health and kept it away from the other chickens," said Cottrell, adding the hen had attracted maggots.

Cottrell said the find was bizarre, considering it was left inside a cracked-open newer cooler with straw, yet also inside a dumpster.

"It's no telling the reasoning behind it," she said. "We can only speculate. It seemed comfortable, so maybe it was left to die in peace? You just never know."

Cottrell said she had taken out the trash earlier to the dumpster, but didn't peek inside. It was then discovered by Priya when she made her trip out back.

"You never know what you're going to find in the trash," Cottrell said.