Why did the chicken cross the road? Well to get from Hinesburg, Vermont to downtown Burlington, of course! A Hinesburg family briefly lost their chicken, Amelia, when she unknowingly hitched a ride with them into town. Owner Rebecca Thibeault and her family believe Amelia climbed into a tiny compartment in the undercarriage of their Ford truck. She somehow stayed in there for the13-mile ride, sometimes going as fast as 65 mph along Interstate 89.
Once the family arrived she apparently hopped off and made her way to the bustling Church Street Marketplace. While she was strutting her stuff and avoiding the local restaurants, she was spotted by Lo Fasano. “That’s a chicken! That’s a chicken on Church Street and I don’t know why it’s here,” Fasano said. “What can I do now aside from find who it belongs to?” Fasano had just finished their coffee so they knew it was not a sleep-deprived hallucination.
Fasano wanted to help so they called Shelburne Farms, a rehabilitator, and the police. Unfortunately “They said they don’t do chickens” was the only response Amelia’s rescuer got. So Fasano took matters into their own hands and took the stay bird in for the night.
They decided social media might be able to help. “Even though it was a long shot, I had hope,” Fasano said, and it worked! Their Facebook post made its way back to Amelia’s family who was worried sick about their missing bird. “I was like, this is my chicken! We need to go get my chicken!” Thibeault exclaimed.
“I’m happy there are so many members in the Burlington Vermont Facebook community to help us when we lose things like a chicken,” Fasano said about the whole ordeal.
Not only is Amelia reunited with her family but she was also renamed from Bug to Amelia after Amelia Earhart. Since Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and her chicken reincarnation is the “First woman chicken to go across Church Street,” says Thibault.
