Where are all the chickens ?

Live chickens have completely disappear from the scene in S'pore. It just occurs to me this sad fact that common animals are becoming 'uncommon' - if you exclude those frozen featherless chickens sold at supermarket. In fact the joke is - if you ask a kid what a chicken looks like - likely you will get a description of a frozen chicken as that is only what they are familiar with.

I went for an educational trip to JB,Malaysia recently. There is a 8 year old boy in the group. He was so excited when he set eyes on some chickens at a mushroom farm we visited to have our breakfast. He followed them all over, happily snapping pictures of them. He was more interested in the chickens than his food.

In S'pore after the SARS episode, all rearing and selling of live fowls are prohibited. With exception of the few chicken farms that produce eggs for local consumption. In the past, there used to be educational tour at these farms, now it is banned.

Same for Palua Ubin - the kampong atmosphere has disappeared as the villagers no longer are allow to rear fowls in their backyard. Once upon a time, visitors used to to see farm animals, chicken, ducks....roaming freely around the island.

Over reaction by those in authority is making S'pore becoming a more and more sterile place to be in.