Oceanside fireman is hero to abandoned chicken

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Matt Molina works at Pet Supply Plus in Oceanside. While on his break July 20 he noticed a gray box with a cardboard cover that had been left outside of the store by the front door. Molina, who is also an Oceanside Fireman, thought it was suspicious, so he called his shift manager Peter Radano who opened the box and found a baby chicken inside.

“It’s kind of our civic duty to always do the right things for our community, and for the animals and people here,” Molina said. “It’s a living breathing animal, being on this planet, so we do our part. It had water and stuff, but I don’t know how long it was there for.”

Molina called the Nassau County Police Forth Precinct. “I was not sure what to say to the Sergeant that responded. ‘We got an animal, kinda chicken, probably the weirdest call you’re ever going to get.’”

The police dispatch contacted animal control, which in turn contacted Cathie Horvath of Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation (WINNOR) from Massapequa, a licensed animal rehabilitation specialist. Molina drove the chicken to Massapequa and dropped it off.

Horvath’s nine-year-old daughter Sadie has become active part of the family rehabilitation efforts. The chicken took to Sadie right away, sitting on her shoulder, or standing on her head.

Cathy said they do not know the age of the fowl, nor its sex as it is still too young to tell. But she is hoping it is not a rooster. “It still has little fuzzy feathers on its head,” Horvath said. “Keeping chickens is easy,” she added, “But roosters…!”

For the time being it is safe and well cared for thanks to a kind fireman and his shift boss.