Unofficial mascot of Beacon flies into eternity
The Mayor, a red hen adopted by Beacon residents as an unofficial mascot, has flown into eternity.
Its owner, Karen Finnegan of Fishkill, said The Mayor died quietly in her arms on Monday (March 17). Finnegan had cared for the bird since May 2020, when she read in a Facebook group about a lone hen wandering around Harbor Hill Court and Davies Avenue. Since she already owned chickens, she offered to provide a home and drove to Beacon to catch it.
“I’d like to think about a tribute to her and possibly a passing of the torch to a new ‘chicken of Beacon,’ but today I’m genuinely heartsick and just need to process this,” Finnegan wrote on Facebook. “It seems silly to grieve over a bird, but she was genuinely a special little soul who brought joy to many during her handful of years on this Earth.”
Finnegan said tests showed The Mayor was not a victim of bird flu. “I think it was just old age,” she said. “Before anyone else says it, she was no spring chicken, and she was a good egg.”
