Top officials at California State University, Sacramento, said Tuesday that public health concerns prompted them to remove the family of feral chickens that had lived on campus for the past decade.

"There was no order to kill," said CSUS President Alexander Gonzalez. "We did not have a barbecue at my house."

The birds - beloved by some and reviled by others - were taken by employees and other people who wanted them for their farms and ranches, Gonzalez said. Students and campus employees said they had noticed the birds had all but vanished between last spring and the start of fall classes late last month.

The president said he was worried the birds might be carrying diseases such as West Nile, SARS and other avian-borne illnesses. There was no evidence that any of the campus roosters and hens - whose numbers fluctuated between 40 and 60 - were carrying any disease, said campus spokeswoman Ann Reed.

But Gonzalez said the potential for health problems was enough to warrant removal. Late last spring, he asked his chief of facilities management to get rid of the chickens. "That was the last of my involvement," he said.

Matthew Altier, now vice president for capital planning and resource development, was associate vice president for facilities management when Gonzalez ordered the removal.

"There was nothing formal, nothing systematic - we didn't hire anyone to do this," Altier said. "We told employees, friends and anyone who wanted them to come and get them. Some may have used a butterfly net ... some ran and caught them. It happened mostly in the evenings and on weekends."

Several faculty and staff said they did not receive any word or notice that they could help themselves to a campus chicken.

Altier, who said he would have known if any cruel methods were used, insisted all chicken removals were done humanely.

"There was no diabolical scheme; none were poisoned," he said.

Altier couldn't say with certainty where the flock went, "but my impression is that people took them home to ranchettes and farms."

Gonzalez said he had the authority to remove the chickens under a recent change in CSU policy about animals on campus.

"This was an issue that was going to incite interest either way," Gonzalez said. "There has been major division on the chickens."

Division, yes, said one student leader, who contended some of the controversy could have been quelled if Gonzalez had involved students, faculty and staff in deciding what to do with the chickens.

"If the president believes in shared governance, he should have put out information to let people know they were a health hazard and something needed to be done," said Joshua Wood, president of CSUS' Associated Students Inc. "It's disappointing to many of us that one of the neat little quirks of our campus is gone."