CHANDLER — Long before the Chandler Ostrich Festival, Arizona was home to what historian Janelle Molony calls the most spectacular ostrich feathers ever produced, and her new book tells that story, KJZZ reported.
Molony, a local author and historian, wrote “Birds Gone Wild: And Other Stories of Arizona Ostrich Ranching.” She told KJZZ’s The Show that ostrich farming began in South Africa in the 1860s before ranchers tried it in Arizona, where the desert closely resembles the birds’ native savannas.
“It’s the best place in the world on the Western Hemisphere,” she said.
Feathers were the first prize. They decorated women’s hats, then dresses, dress linings and even underwear, she said. The most valuable feathers number only about 25 per bird, and top-quality plumes sold for about $30 each, roughly $1,000 today. Some extra-large competition feathers were valued at $50.
At the height of the industry in South Africa, where diamond mining was also booming, a whole ostrich was worth more than a diamond, Molony said.
Interest returned in the 1980s, when ranchers began raising the birds for meat, eggs and leather, which Molony said is more valuable than cowhide.
She cautioned that the birds are livestock, not pets. “They are not cute little cuddly things. They have a job,” she said.
Sources: KJZZ. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: National Photo Company Collection / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
