This Is Guernsey

By Aimee Le Cocq

HUNDREDS of chickens are attacking graves at Vale Cemetery.

Sexton Peter Hamon, left, with Deputy Matt Fallaize in the Vale Cemetery where poultry problems have gone unresolved for years. (Picture by Tom Tardif, 0630771)

The damage has driven relatives to tears and the birds attract vermin and their droppings can carry salmonella.
And the chickens have made such a mess of the grass that it can no longer be mowed.
The birds have been a problem for years but so far no one has been able to do anything about them.
‘Something in the government has failed to allow it to go on for so long,’ said parish deputy Matt Fallaize yesterday.
A bereaved woman contacted the Guernsey Press after she found that her son’s grave had been damaged by the birds.
‘I burst into tears,’ she said. ‘I went to the cemetery and the ground had been disturbed by the chickens.
‘If it was a dog, the owner would be prosecuted,’ she said. ‘If it were kids, they would be prosecuted, so why not this man?’
The chickens are believed to belong to Tom Domaille, who lives in a cottage next to the graveyard.
Numerous attempts to contact him yesterday failed.
The woman said she that she, too, had tried to contact Mr Domaille without success.
‘If he wants to keep chickens, he should keep them on his grounds,’ she said.
Sexton Peter Hamon said the nuisance had been going on for five years.
‘We’ve been next door with the cemetery committee to try to talk to the chicken’s owner, but we don’t get a reasonable response.
‘I feel sorry for all the people whose family graves have been desecrated by the chickens.
‘I just hope that a solution can be found soon.’
Rector the Rev. Kevin Northover was aware of the problem, but said he was not responsible for the graveyard, which is administered by the parochial cemetery committee.
‘I’ve had a number of complaints over the years about the chickens.
‘There’s nothing I am allowed to do,’ he said.
A spokeswoman for the committee said: ‘The committee have gathered to solve the problem for several years, but, unfortunately, the owner of the chickens has refused to cooperate.
‘The problem has also been made worse as there appear to be other chickens that have been abandoned there.
‘These have now mixed with the chickens owned by Mr Domaille.’
Deputy Fallaize said: ‘I know that previous attempts have been made to deal with the problem.
‘People have attempted to remove upwards of 250 chickens there.’
Deputy Fallaize has now written to Environmental Health, the parish constables, the Law Officers and Animal Aid in an effort to get rid of the chickens once and for all.

Article posted on 29th August, 2008 - 11.30am