FITZGERALD, Ga. (WALB) - Fitzgerald is a town of history, harmony, and heritage, but is also known for its wild chickens.

If you drive through the historic district in Downtown Fitzgerald, you’ll hear and see several hundred wild chickens just clucking around.

“I love the chickens. I love seeing the different colors of them and seeing the shapes of them,” one Fitzgerald resident said.

Another Fitzgerald resident added that growing up and seeing the chickens was never out of the ordinary.

“They’re everywhere. It’s kind of normal. We grew up with them,” she said.

It’s because of their vast presence in the community that the small South Georgia town, home to nearly 9,000 people, has centered its identity around the wild chickens.

From murals to store signs and even a 62-foot-tall chicken monument, Fitzgerald has been in a chicken frenzy for decades.

“Of course, we have different things that go on, like the Wild Chicken festival, and so, that’s an annual event that’s been going on for 20 plus years,” said Brandy Elrod, City of Fitzgerald Director of Tourism, Arts and Culture. “It’s just a fun thing we can celebrate, I mean, who else has wild chickens running around downtown?”

But how did the wild chickens cross the road into Fitzgerald, Georgia, to begin with?

It was in the 1960s that the Department of Natural Resources decided to start a project. They wanted to replace quail with wild chickens as a game bird. But a failed project led to the wild chickens migrating to Fitzgerald and ultimately calling it their home.

The feral birds are so much more than wild chickens. The species is known as the Red Junglefowl and originates from India.

According to the American Birding Association, Fitzgerald is one of three other locations throughout the nation the wild chickens can be found. It’s because of that rarity that Fitzgerald has been designated a bird sanctuary city for years. City ordinances make it unlawful for wild chickens to be killed or maimed.

Jan Gelders has been fighting to protect the wild chickens for years. She said she wasn’t attracted to the free-roaming bird’s vibrant colors but instead their evolving survival instincts.

“These are really special because they’ve survived. They’ve survived everything. They’re still here, and there can be more,” she said.

After evading eradication in Fitzgerald several years ago, the population of wild chickens has been faced with the ups and downs in repopulation. Gelders tells me it’s important for Fitzgerald neighbors to protect the wild chickens now more than ever.

“Things become extinct. These could have become extinct, and that would be a shame,” Gelders said. “These wild birds bring in thousands of dollars with the Wild Chicken Festival. But people need to pay the chickens back a little bit and protect their nests.”

As the city of Fitzgerald continues to take flight on the backs of the wild chickens, advocates are hoping that the species will be a forever neighbor for decades to come.

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