Article: 1,500 rare birds stolen as Jamie and Co spark a spate of chicken rustling; FOWL PLAY: Jamie Oliver's TV campaign has led to a huge rise in chicken-keeping ... and thefts.

Byline: Polly Dunbar

THE campaign by celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to promote freerange chickens has fuelled a hen-rustlingcrimewave.

Bird conservation groups say there has been a sharp increase in thefts inrecent months, with valuable rare breeds in particular being targeted.

The crimewave is being blamed on the big demand for chickens as domestic pets,following highprofile campaigns by the two chefs earlier this year.

After their efforts in a Channel 4 series to persuade consumers to switch frombuying cheaper, intensively farmed chickens to freerange or organic birds,amateur chicken farming, especially by city-dwellers, has ...

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