Dear Editor,
It’s a shame about the Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site.
We have a nice website from the City of Richmond extolling the virtues of the above.
“An authentic representation of a once thriving community of canneries, boat yards, residences, and stores.” It is beautiful, but the four chickens that have been kept there as a representation of that life live in a pathetically-built chicken coop that is rat infested.
Not only that, this facility is located not too far from an elementary school. I walk by the chickens every day and on some days, during daylight, I have seen as many as 12 rodents at a time. Today (Oct. 5) the three hens were dead.
They were killed by a predator as they lacked decent protection. This wouldn’t have happened if they had been protected properly, living in a decently constructed environment.
The rooster remains, but if the predator (it appears to have been a coyote, according to the site manager) returns with easy access, he may not be there tomorrow.
We can repave our roads all of the time, but it seems that we cannot take on the cost to maintain a decent living environment for a “heritage” exhibit that really would not cost too much at all.
Basically, this is animal cruelty. Fix it.
Peter Wilson
Richmond
