Jaywalking chicken gets ticket for crossing illegally

Ticket against jaywalking chicken tossed
at 13:13 on May 30, 2005, EST.

RIDGECREST, Calif. (AP) - A chicken that got a ticket for crossing the road has scratched his way out of it.

The $54 citation for impeding traffic was dismissed Friday after Linc and Helena Moore's lawyer argued that the fowl was domesticated and could not be charged as livestock.

State law restricts livestock on highways, but not domestic animals.

The chicken was ticketed March 26 for impeding traffic after it wandered onto a road in Johannesburg, a rural mining community southeast of Ridgecrest.

The Moores said they got the ticket because they were among several people who complained that deputies have done little to curb noisy off-road vehicle riders.

"For the last 2 1/2 years, no one has been able to stop the kids riding their bikes in the middle of the road or the neighbours' dogs running around our neighbourhood," Linc Moore said. "But when our chicken escaped and crossed the road once it became a huge issue."

Sheriff's officials said the ticket had nothing to do with the Moores' complaints.