Chicken's trip across road wasn't a foul

A CHICKEN fined $54 (£29) for illegally crossing a road in California has had the charge thrown out by a court.

The fine was dismissed after a lawyer for the bird's owners argued that the fowl was domesticated and could not be classified as livestock. California law bans livestock from highways, but not domestic animals.

Linc and Helena Moore had been fined after their chicken wandered on to a road in the small rural mining town of Johannesburg in Kern county.

"No-one has been able to stop the kids riding their bikes in the middle of the road or the neighbours' dogs running around our neighbourhood," Linc Moore was quoted as saying. "But when our chicken crossed the road once it became a huge issue."