Chickens can't legally cross roads.

[Robert Harris]

When travelling through Russia, in just about any place that is not a big city you will find chickens and other fowl wandering the streets at will. People raise them in backyards, and they wander in search of food. Never has seemed to be a big deal. But apparently it offends some officials, so:

For some chickens, the simple act of crossing a road is no joke. Indeed, for the chicken population of one Russian village, crossing the road has become rather an expensive pastime.

The inhabitants of Andreyevskaya in the southern Krasnodar region are up in arms after local police officers began fining chickens - or rather, their owners - when the birds were found wandering the streets unattended.

olice are imposing fines of 1,000 roubles (or 30 dollars) - which for the elderly villagers is more than their average monthly pension.

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2962021.stm

Strikes me as silly beyond belief. But then many acts of Russian officials strike me that way.

And it certainly will kill all the jokes about why the chicken crossed the road. :)

[ethics]

You know what, Bob, this is a microcasm of Russia's inability to advance beyond what they have now.

See, the problem is not fining the owners, it's fining them with an unrealistic fine, a fine that most will probably not pay so they will be coerced in to bribes and bribes go well with the militia.

It's really sad.

[Robert Harris]

Or the cops will confiscate the chickens.

[ethics]

Originally posted by Robert Harris
Or the cops will confiscate the chickens.

That's extreme in my humble opinion. The way life and economy is these days in Russia, you are taking away these people's livelihood. Perhaps a 2 dollar fine would send enough of a message to build a range for these chickens and be more responsible?

[Robert Harris]

To begin with, the chickens aren't doing any harm. Why bother with this law? These villagers have been raising chickens this way forever, sort of, without major problems. I never had a problem with the chickens crossing the road in front of me -- or the ducks and geese, too, for that matter. I suspect some officiouis bureaucrat must hve stepped in a fresh pile of droppings one day and got his shoes dirty.