Restless roosters rile Swazi authorities

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

MBABANE (AFP) — Authorities in Swaziland's capital Mbabane have launched a crackdown on cockerels amid a surge in chicken-breeding that is disturbing the sleep of the city's residents, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Speaking to AFP, Mbabane Municipal spokesman Bongani Dlamini said authorities would begin to enforce a 40-year-old law that permits residents to raise up to 12 chickens with permission but no roosters.

"We know that our people have been hard hit by the sky-rocketing food prices but that does not allow people to raise chickens without the approval of the council," Dlamini said, expressing concern that the city was becoming a farm.

"After many instances we have found cocks to be troublesome and they end up making lives miserable for residents," he...