Chicken Corner has received the following update on Herve Chapman and Verdugo Pets from a reader, Lynda Akin of Mount Washington. Akin forwarded an article by David Fonseca of Highland Park-Mt. Washington Patch, who wrote that Verdugo Pets has not closed permanently. The owner, Herve Chapman, is being treated for leukemia and plans to reopen. The chickens, doves, finches, and other pets have been sold:

Steel bars line the front doors of the Verdugo Pet Shop at 5022 York Blvd. and the clucking of chickens can no longer be heard inside.

The beloved pet shop--known in the neighborhood for selling chickens and other avian house pets--is indefinitely closed while its owner, Harvey Chapman, undergoes treatment for leukemia, said family friend Alex Reyes.

"He's sick right now; he's in the hospital, that's why the shop's closed," Reyes said. An emergency sale was held on Saturday, Jan. 8, in order to give all the pets inside the shop a home while Chapman undergoes treatment and recovery, Reyes said.

"The only animals in there now are a few cats," he said. "They're there to make sure rats don't come in and eat up all the chicken feed."

Reyes, who has been helping to look after the shop, said Chapman has every intention of reopening after he recovers from chemotherapy.

All the money raised through the sale of the pets will go toward Chapman's medical expenses. In the meantime, there's talk of another fundraiser to help Chapman cover his medical bills, but nothing set in stone, Reyes said.

Reyes said he visited Chapman in the hospital last week and that his friend looks like he is on the road to recovery. "He's not all better, but he's showing improvement," Reyes said.

Chapman opened the shop 35 years ago. On a block with the weird and incomparible Zepellin guitar shop and the pretty hip Cafe de Leche, and a vintage clothing shop among other storefront operations, Verdugo Pets has held its own against time and shifting demographics.