Pets can suffer from allergies, but there are ways to help our furry friends

Flamingos pelicans herons and parrots are just a insufficient of the wild birds that call Miami home but it s the roosters hens and baby chicks that have come to rule the roost in modern years Not only located in residential neighborhoods like Little Havana Little Haiti and Wynwood the fowl families are also making their home among the high-rises and regime buildings downtown And while certain people find the crowing to be a nuisance a large number of have adopted the rooster as an unofficial mascot for the city A piece of home Paul George the resident historian at HistoryMiami Museum stated the chickens are closely connected to the people who have moved to Miami over the decades For a long time the domesticated birds were mostly kept in backyards but George began to notice their feral cousins wandering in population areas about years ago He revealed the chickens have a cultural connection to people who grew up in rural areas of Cuba and other parts of Latin America They ve inevitably had these hens and roosters around A symbol for the city Wild chickens can be unveiled in countless Florida communities from Key West to Tampa to St Augustine along with other large cities throughout the U S like New Orleans Houston and Los Angeles But Miami s Little Havana truly adopted the birds as a symbol in when -foot -meter fiberglass rooster statues began appearing outside shops and restaurants along Calle Ocho which is Spanish for th Street as part of a campaign to celebrate the area s custom More than two decades later dozens of the colorfully painted statues designed by the late artist Pedro Dami n continue to attract tourists seeking fun photo opportunities Owner Jakelin Llaguna of Little Havana Visitors Center a souvenir shop along Calle Ocho explained the area is largely fond of the avian inhabitants which forage around local businesses and parks The neighbors have welcomed them Llaguna commented So they don t mind if they re in their backyard or in their front lawn Nobody messes with them they re our mascot Llaguna disclosed the roosters crowing at sunrise symbolizes renewal The Cubans came to Little Havana when the revolution came into Cuba Llaguna reported They settled in this neighborhood so they had a new beginning in Little Havana Llaguna s store is filled with rooster merchandise including shirts hats glasses and magnets Everybody wants a rooster Llaguna explained They want to take home a memento They want have a memory of a fun time And the rooster has turned into that An uncertain future As the feral roosters spread they might soon face competition from the invasive peacocks that have taken over neighboring communities like Coconut Grove and Coral Gables The peacocks have very bad tempers George mentioned They re pretty ill-mannered and they tend to be a lot bigger than the chickens and they make a lot of noise But George is more concerned that maturation and gentrification in older neighborhoods could eventually lead to the disappearance of their feathered residents When -year-old houses are replaced with brand new condos George isn t sure whether people spending over million for a home are going to tolerate the loud birds Even with hurricane windows I just don t think a lot of these people are gonna put up with it as the neighborhood becomes richer George noted And I think they re gonna really lean on the city s code enforcement for it The legal status of the roosters and chickens is somewhat murky Both the city of Miami and Miami-Dade County have ordinances that either strictly regulate or absolutely ban live poultry in residential areas Meanwhile the birds freely roam downtown among offices general parks and courthouses Petitioned about the birds both city and county officers described their presence as a code compliance issue and referred The Associated Press to their live animal ordinances Little Havana resident Donato Ramos Mart nez enjoys having the roosters and chickens around and even feeds them near the Bay of Pigs Monument off Calle Ocho The rooster is the perfect animal for someone to wake up because they begin to crow at about a m from to a m Ramos Mart nez mentioned in Spanish And it is an attractive animal that tourists both young and old are excited about and they take their picture you know what I mean And so I don t understand he added why there are selected excuse my language a few idiots who don t want roosters or chickens or chicks on the street