Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? In Florida, it Ended in Bear Spray and Felony Charges
A florida woman named Cynthia Diaz Sosa was arrested in Key West after using bear spray on a driver who killed a chicken crossing the road. Diaz Sosa had stopped to let the chicken cross, but a frustrated driver honked, passed her, adn ran over the bird. In response, Diaz Sosa followed the driver, opened her car door, and sprayed bear mace at the driver and a passenger before fleeing. She was later apprehended and charged wiht aggravated battery and burglary with assault or battery. Key West is known for its large population of feral “gypsy chickens,” which are both a tourist attraction and a nuisance due to property damage and health concerns. The presence of these chickens dates back to early settlers and Cuban migrants.
It was a case of fowl play.
A Florida woman reportedly bear sprayed a driver who killed a chicken crossing the road on Tuesday night in Key West.
Cynthia Diaz Sosa, 38, had stopped her car in traffic to let the bird cross when the driver behind her began honking, according to WPLG-TV in Miami.
The frustrated driver passed Diaz Sosa’s car, decimating the chicken as she did.
Evidently, this ruffled Diaz Sosa’s feathers, so she decided to “teach her a lesson,” she later told police.
She followed the driver before prying open the woman’s car door.
BREAKING – A Florida woman has been arrested after stopping to let a chicken cross the road in Key West, then chasing and blocking a driver who struck and killed it, spraying bear mace into the driver’s face before fleeing and being taken into custody. pic.twitter.com/wz6mJEJJnq
— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) July 17, 2025
Once in, Diaz Sosa shot bear spray at the driver and another female passenger. Then she fled.
Police caught up with Diaz Sosa that night and arrested her on two counts of aggravated battery, as well as one count of burglary with assault or battery.
Records showed that, as of Tuesday, she wasn’t an inmate at Monroe County Sheriff’s Office jail, WPLG-TV reported.
She’s scheduled to appear in court on July 24.
Key West is known for its troublesome chicken population, according to Tucker’s Provisions, a Key West blog and apparel website.
They are popularly known as “gypsy chickens.”
While the chickens themselves are a bit of a tourist attraction, they are also pests.
They cause property damage, are often run over, and their droppings spread sicknesses, CBS News reported in 2024.
The population originated from the first Key West settlers in the 1820s.
Migrating Cubans in the 1860s also brought chickens along.
“One of the traditions that came from Cuba was cockfighting,” Corey Malcolm, lead historian for the Florida Keys History Center, told CBS News. “The tradition of raising chickens carries on from the early 1900s into around World War II.”
“Chickens were very much a part of early Key West,” he said.
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