local wild rooster shot and killed :(

[Nuggetsowner:)]

I agree with most of you who think this guy was a true jerk! However, I do put partial blame on the owner of the chickens!! It is our responsibility as pet owner to make sure our animals are safe and I am sorry but running free over an entire neighborhood does not seem safe to me. I think there should be some sort of punishment for the man but also feel as if the roosters owner should be made to care for his or her animals in a better way.

 

[cjeanean]

honestly, I think the guy needs anger managements, and hasn't the law enforcement ever heard of discharging a firearm within city limits??? That is what I find ridiculous, cause although the rooster was a pet it's still an animal, but what if one of those bullets had ended up in someone's house??? There was more at stake than a rooster....now that we know the guy's an idiot how do we know he won't miss if he tries something like that again???? I swear, the law nowadays..... un

 

[Cassandra]

Nuggetsowner :

I think there should be some sort of punishment for the man but also feel as if the roosters owner should be made to care for his or her animals in a better way.

True enough! The article described the flock as "wild", though. And it said that no one claimed the animals. There was reference to one man who called the chickens his pets and said they roosted in his tree.

We could get into a LONG debate over what constitutes ownership. It's true that by feeding the chickens and allowing them safe harbor in his yard, that man was encouraging them to stay. But it's understandable to me that if he didn't acquire them and put them on his property on purpose, he might not feel responsible for housing them.

Still, by not taking responsibility for their safety, he was taking a gamble that they would be hurt and sooner or later almost certainly would be. See! Endlessly debatable!

But this could have been any kind of animal. The neighborhood might just have easily been attached to a family of squirrels or woodpeckers or rabbits or whatever else you can think of that might take up residence.

It is abhorent to me that one person took it upon himself to rid the neighborhood of this "nusiance" and took off shooting at it. I'm sure he felt quite the tough guy when it was over. I hope the time comes when he realizes how wrong he was.

Cassandra​

 

[Cheekon]

Quote:
They make it so some people can't keep a few hens in their yard but when someone discharges a gun within city limits they do nothing!

un

 

[Frozen Feathers]

Wow! How did this guy not get charged with discharging a firearm in public ??

People do not have the right to go around shooting whatever they deem a nuisance, even more so in some one else's yard!!
un

 

[hooligan]

Doesn't the article say the original owners left the chickens? So they were 'neighborhood pets'. If the guy had such a problem with them why didn't he just call animal control? Instead of shooting the rooster?

I made this a bulletin on MySpace so I am sure its getting passed around and someone will pay him a visit. This guy needs chicken lovers protesting outside his house!

 

[Ericasl]

I sure hope this guy has no kids, just think what he might do to a baby crying to much or a screaming toddler. To just kill an animal like that is not a good. I would hate to have him live next door to me. Those poor hens must be so sad.

 

[willheveland]

I don't know what their neighborhood was like,but here where I live you can not discharge a firearm within 500 ft of a house or dwelling,(that's a long ways even if you own 10 acres).but it is ok as long as nobody complains.If there is a complaint the DEC officer will come out and pace it off.
Knowing that not all people like the crow of a rooster I can see where a guy could get fed up with the sound.I like it but that's why I chose to live where I do.This guy chose to live in a neighborhood,probably not intended with a rooster.The right thing to do would have been to call an animal control officer.
I know alot of people think that if they are out of the town alittle ways that they are in the country,this is not so.You still need to keep animals contained.Where I live many of my neighbors let their dogs run free and can't understand why somebody would be upset when they see a dog running loose,after all we live in the country right.
I see that alot of members here call their chickens pets,but beleive it or not your chickens have more rights not being your pets but your livestock.If a animal kills,chases,or harrasses your livestock you can shoot it.This is an Agriculture Law.If an animal does the same to your family pet it is alittle more complicated.Even if your dog is on a chain and another dog enters your yard and harms him.
Just something to think about when you decribe your chickens are you sure they are pets or livestock.
With this being said,if I was a kid again that guy would have made my holloween prank list, Will

 

[Jster]

I haven't seen an update in the local news but will keep my eye out and post it if there is one.

I agree with what people have said about the slippery slope and danger of a person who 1) thinks lawless violence is the answer to a perceived problem 2) will kill an innocent animal without trying to rehome or at least report it first.

Also, our local police, uggh. Not the brightest stars of law enforcement, I don't know if anyone remembers last January (2007) but they made national news for slashing the tents of homeless people *with people inside them*. So unfortunately, it probably was very sympathetic police who responded to the calls. I still can't believe they just left the guy alone, still hauling his gun whereever he felt like it. I hope the prosecutors do something.

As an aside, I haven't been to that particular neighborhood, but I was driving a couple of miles away in another neighborhood with my kids, and we happened upon some wild peacocks and peahens, a vulture eating roadkill, and then at the entrance to a nature park some alligators (6+feet long) and inside the park more alligators and baby gators. This is Florida, after all, it's a place where nature and noise are around, and parrots have gone wild and thrived here, why not chickens?

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

The article stated that this was an "unincorporated area" so firearm laws are probably not in place. The article also stated that the shooter had asked the neighbors if anyone owned the rooster, since no one claimed it, it was fair game since chickens are not protected species.

I can sympathize with the man for being frustrated with the rooster crowing, even if the "pet chicken" crowd feels that a rooster crowing at all hours is somehow "cute".

I don't condone this cromagnons actions, but I can truly understand it.

Jim