Dumped roosters raise 'hell' in suburban Cambridge park

Thursday, 14 December 2017

Rooster 'bad boys' are putting neighbours of a Waikato reserve through mental hell.

The brood of cocks spend their days strutting around, puffing their chests out and crowing, leaving a foul taste in the mouths of Cambridge residents.

Attacks, stalkers and backyard killings have become commonplace.

They've asked Waipa District Council to move them on. But council says it's not their problem.

READ MORE: The story of NZ's roadside roosters

Described as inflicting mental hell on neighbours, these bad-boy ranks have swelled since two turned up earlier this year.

Five now patrol the reserve bordering Alpha St, Vogel Place, the Gaslight Theatre and the Riding for the Disabled.

Roosters fitting this profile are generally dumped because they're male and the owners can't bear to kill them.

The reserve provides an ideal drop off.

Resident Steve Curtin chased one rooster from his chook house and says he wants the rest removed.

His hens were cowering at the roosters' intrusion.

They're not friendly. Quite the opposite.

'A recent attack on my neighbour's chickens resulted in a fight over a dead [chicken] body between three of them. Roosters fighting is not a pretty sight.'

Curtin moves around on a prosthetic leg so chasing the roosters away is difficult.

Neighbour Carmen Furniss has two teenage sons, who 'offered solutions' to the problem but she prefers a legal remedy.

'They start crowing at 4.50am and continue all day, it's driving us mad,' she says.

Riding for the Disabled operations manager Vanessa Donnelly wants the rosters gone, too.

'They hang around our arena crowing when we have children riding and are a constant nuisance to the horses when they are in their pens.'

An Alpha St resident, who does not want to be named, had her own poultry on a property backing on to the same reserve.

'These cocky chaps have raided our fowl house resulting in the deaths of four hens,' she says.

'Now they stalk the fence line giving my girls the eye.'

Waipa District Council's environmental services team leader Karl Tutty confirms complaints have been received but isn't prepared to assist unless the animals are on council ground.

'Formally, roosters are not considered pests so are not subject to any rules or powers like possums and magpies.

'Dealing with these roosters or any other feral animal is not an animal control function.'