Chickens dyed pink by owner 'to make people smile'
- Published
Having your chicken pink probably isn't the best idea...
But a chicken owner in America says he dyed his two birds pink "to make people smile".
The brightly coloured chickens were spotted on the loose in Portland, Oregon, and taken in by an animal shelter.
Bruce Whitman came forward to claim the birds, saying he used food colouring, beetroot juice and Kool-Aid (a brand of flavoured drink from America) on them.
He tucked the chickens into a tree and thought he'd collect them later, not expecting the prank to go this far.
The pink chicken owner, Bruce Whitman
Multnomah County Animal Services said: "Our animal control officer had a gentle but firm discussion about allowing the chickens to wander, then sent them all home."
The shelter added: "Although the food coloring [sic] is benign and not harmful to the chicks, animal welfare organizations [sic] generally do not condone the practice."