Iowa City law-enforcement and animal-control officers spent much of Monday chasing down chickens, according to Iowa City police.

The scarcely free-running fowl ran amok beginning around 5:30 a.m. and were still being rounded up around 4 p.m., said Iowa City police Sgt. Troy Kelsay.

The police received at least 15 calls to get the birds, which were spotted all across town.

Kelsay said the calls tied up dispatchers but didn’t hamper service. There will not be a police investigation, although someone could potentially be charged with violating Iowa City’s ordinance on chickens, he said.

Speculation as on the birds were loose — an unusual event in Iowa’s literary capital — scurried about like the poultry.

It could be a prank tied to City High’s Homecoming week, Kelsay said, or it could be a political statement about the proposed Iowa City ordinance to allow chickens in the city.

“We don’t know, and we don’t care,” he said. “But I hope this isn’t an indication of what’s to come.”

— by Danny Valentine