Old McDonald had a farm...and it was everywhere

I hate roosters. I HATE them. I never knew that before. If someone had asked me for my least favorite animal, I don't think I could have answered. Well, now I can. It's roosters. I HATE roosters.

There are chickens that live in our neighborhood. They run around avoiding getting run over by cars or stepped on by people. Mama hens peck the ground for food with little chicks following in a scraggly line behind. The roosters strut around, crowing - loudly. Growing up in suburbia and exposed to farm life mostly through story books or TV shows, I assumed roosters only crowed in the morning when the sun came up. That is not the case. Roosters crow whenever they damn well please.

Animals here are very different from animals in the States. Cats and dogs here mostly just roam around, eating whatever they can find. The cats seem to manage better than the dogs. The dogs are almost always skinny with torn ears, some other wounds, fleas and flies always crawling on them. Dogs around here are also terrible at crossing streets. I've never seen one hit, but I've seen some damn close calls.
In class the other day, we got into a discussion about animal shelters. There are no such things in the Gambia. It seems incredulous to many Gambians that in America someone pays money to take in strays and to feed and care for them until they're adopted.

To put this in a greater perspective, it's not just dogs, cats and chickens that roam around. Most live stalk have free reign. Mostly commonly you'll see goats (who are surprisingly good at crossing busy streets) sometimes sheep (sheep tails hang down; goat tails point up. That's the only way to tell the difference). It's pretty common to see a donkey or a group of goats grazing at the College campus. Yesterday, a group of cows was chowing down just outside the door of the administrative building. One farmer isn't going to have enough grass to feed all of his livestock, so they get to roam around to find their own food. And the interesting thing is, all the livestock comes home at night. Every goat knows where he lives and goes there.

They only people who find anything remarkable about this at all are we international students. For the Gambians, it's just the way things are. And who knows, maybe when I return the States, I'll be surprised not see any goats. Maybe the lack of farm animals will seem odd to me.

Maybe. But if a rooster moves in next door, I'm hitting it with my car.