Did the chicken cross the road?
It is a question that is likely to remain unanswered after Dunedin City Council animal control services said they had no record of being called to deal with a feathered creature on the Southern Motorway yesterday.
Police received a report of a ''dark-coloured'' chicken ruffling feathers after it was spotted on the barrier of the southbound lane of the motorway at Concord at 9.23am.
It was unclear if the chicken had crossed the road.
''There's no answer to that - no,'' the spokeswoman said.
''[The caller] hasn't said if it crossed the road to the northbound lane.''
Officers did not attend, instead alerting the traffic operations centre, which told police animal control would be alerted, she said.
However, council animal services team leader Peter Hanlin said neither he nor his staff had any record of being called to attend to the bird.
''We haven't got a chicken in the pound and we don't know if it was going to visit its flat mate,'' he said.
Subsequent calls to police were unable to solve the mystery of where the chicken ended up.
It was unclear if the bird had flown the coop or succumbed to ''fowl'' play.
