VICTORIA, Texas (AP) -- A foul odor in Victoria is being linked to another kind of fowl.

A breeze drifting through the southeast Texas city of nearly 63,000 helped push an unwanted odor blamed on chicken manure spread on nearby pastures.

Some people were thinking about the stinking enough to report it.

Detective Thomas Eisman says Victoria police and the emergency communications center received several calls Monday from residents about the odor. Eisman says the unpleasant smell is not hazardous to the general public.

Extension Agent Joe Janak says he believes a rancher has been using poultry litter as an organic means to fertilize the land. He says fertilizer prices doubled and tripled a few years ago, so more farmers began turning to organic fertilizers.

Janak told the Victoria Advocate that "it's part of nature, part of how chicken manure smells."

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Information from: The Victoria Advocate, http://www.victoriaadvocate.com

Copyright 2010 The AP.