Everyone just pitches in for that at this point. “But our volunteers pay those needs out of pocket, whether it’s infrastructure like runs or whether it’s crates or it’s gas money for transport. “Obviously, we have other needs,” Magnus said. Frostbite is common during the winter.Ĭredit: Maia McDonald/Block Club Chicago This Serama hen missing its feet is one of Zelano’s longterm residents at Chicago Chicken Rescue in Woodlawn.ĭonations to the group’s fundraiser go directly toward veterinary bills at Niles Animal Hospital and Bird Medical Center. Others are injured and missing eyes, limbs or combs. Some suffer from upper respiratory or parasitic infections. Many of the birds Chicago Roo Crew fosters require medical care.
The volunteers’ work often is exacerbated by school hatchery projects and illegal cockfighting rings, which leave swaths of birds in need of homes. You know, we don’t have unlimited space, and so we really have to prioritize animals that are in dire need of help.” “We also get an overwhelming number of requests just from people who live in the city and around the city to take in unwanted animals and pets,” Zelano said.
“Because we have too many and our vet bills are tremendous.”Ĭhristina Zelano, founder of Chicago Chicken Rescue, also has to make tough decisions about which animals she’s able to take in. “Right now, currently, we’re closed for intake,” Magnus said. This is necessary because it would irresponsible to take in more birds than they can handle, Magnus said. With their group at capacity, Magnus has had to start saying “no” to people asking for help, instead detailing other resources to care for chickens.
#Rescue birds upper west side free#
Credit: Maia McDonald/Block Club Chicago Chicago Roo Crew’s raised beds grow produce the community is free to have through a mutual aid group. Magnus and other volunteers also work with groups like Bronzeville-Kenwood Mutual Aid to share organically grown produce via a Facebook page. Other work includes collaborating with groups like the Chicago Chicken Rescue, a local animal sanctuary, to organize rescues and care for birds, many of which have disabilities or are ex-fighters. “They’re very special, intelligent animals,” Magnus said. Volunteers often go on chicken runs, which are rescue trips to save lost or dumped chickens who the group then fosters. Over the past several years, the Chicago Roo Crew has worked throughout the city to provide resources, guidance and other services to people raising hens and roosters, less common but increasingly sought-after animal companions. “The more people who contribute to the vet bills, and the more people, equally as importantly, offer to foster or adopt, the more we can take and the more we can do,” she said. As of Friday, they’ve raised just over $3,100, which Magnus said is less than half of what they owe to care for the birds. Now the group has started a GoFundMe to help pay outstanding veterinary bills. They’ve had to stop taking in birds, and medical expenses are ballooning for the ones they are caring for.
At one point, the group received six requests in two weeks to foster roosters and birds. Credit: Maia McDonald/Block Club Chicago Julia Magnus, an animal rights lawyer and volunteer for Chicago Roo Crew as seen on July 1, 2021.ĭuring the pandemic, Chicago Roo Crew has been inundated with birds who were often given up by people who said the animals were more work than they’d anticipated. But now her organization and volunteers need help. It’s a life where her birds’ clucking never gets old. She’s become an animal rights lawyer and a volunteer at Chicago Roo Crew, a female-led group that advocates for the care of roosters in the city. Nowadays, her Bronzeville yard is home to birds like Fuego, a fiery game rooster, and Ember Miji Pop Claw, a chicken with spurs. Her family raised parrots when she was growing up. BRONZEVILLE - Julia Magnus has always lived around birds.
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