In March, the Dallas County Animal Shelter released plans for a “chicken and egg” shelter in Plano, a small Texas city about 20 miles south of Austin.
Plans called for a $10,000-a-month “fence” and a chicken coop with a large yard, which will have a pond and a large enclosure.
According to the plans, the facility will “keep birds on the premises, as well as provide food and veterinary care.”
The shelter’s website also calls for volunteers and staff to be trained, with a goal of “increasing the number of hours of service for the shelter’s homeless animals to as high as possible.”
The site says the shelter will also “keep animals away from drug-addicted dogs, cats, and other predators.”
As it happens, Plano’s Animal Welfare League is sponsoring the project.
And as the AP reported, the plan has met with some resistance, with some residents saying the shelter is “not a place for people to stay in and relax,” and others worried that the chicken coops will encourage people to move in.
But as the Associated Press reported, “some residents, including city officials, are welcoming the project and say they support the shelter in its efforts to save the city’s most vulnerable animals.”
In the meantime, the project has been embraced by animal-rights activists, who have vowed to fight the plan, even as the Dallas Morning News reports that Plano City Council members are still considering the plan.