The modern shopping complex construction in Kitwe’s Freedom Park has used up part of what  used to be Kitwe’s Zoo. The  zoo had lions, other animals, including a wide variety of birds.

Rumour has it that the night guards were responsible for poaching these animals from the zoo. Apparently they sited as their reason that it was ridiculous to be guarding “relish”! (Kwaliba ukulonda umunani?”).

This attitude is in complete contrast to that portrayed in this old BBC story from Wales, in UK:

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The chicken’s gloominess was thought to have been brought on by being in the house alone while Mrs Mills and her husband Sam were out at work.

So the couple now leave the television on all day to keep it company and it is a “happy hen again”, they said.

Mrs Mills was given Lily, now three-years-old, when it was a two-day-old chick and she now lays up to six eggs a week for her and husband Sam.

“ My wife loves that chicken so much that she could not bear to have her put down ”
Sam Mills

The cost of the seven operations was “worth every penny”, said Mrs Mills, who has forsaken her holidays this year to pay the vet’s bills.

“I love her to bits and it would break my heart if anything happened to her,” she said.

“She’s much more fun than a cat or a dog.

“She struts about as if she rules the roost – she really thinks she’s top of the pecking order in our household.”

The couple have taught one-legged Lily party tricks like keeping her balance as she stands on Mrs Mills’ head.

Mr Mills, 23, said the couple were “devastated” when Lily’s leg got snagged in the barbed wire.

“My wife loves that chicken so much that she could not bear to have her put down,” said Mr Mills.

“But now she is a happy hen again and laying eggs regularly for us.

“She is quite happy to hop around on one leg.

“But sometimes she tries to scratch herself with her missing leg and falls over.”

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