Well, I didn't think I'd write about this on here because there's already enough negativity in the threads and I didn't want to add to it, but I'm VERY annoyed and upset by this and thought I'd share it just to show how animals are treated so poorly.
My Dad lives in Traralgon South in Victoria, which is a very small town just off of Traralgon itself with a population of about 300... techincally, this town would be considered rural. We have had a rooster and about 8 chooks living there for a year or two now, at the time be clearly never even thought that we wouldn't be allowed to have them because we have a relatively big lot there and with it being rural and all. This rooster is a road island red, and when he was younger decided to steal food from my Great Dane who in turn took a swipe at the rooster leaving him blind in one eye, because of this the rooster had to be given a pain killer which would last for about a year... this was of course about a year ago and we believe that he began to crow because of the pain and also became more aggressive after being bit at by the dog.
Last Friday we recieved a call from the Traralgon council telling us that they recieved an anonymous complaint about the rooster making too much noise. We were told that we would be given 2 weeks from the arrival date of the offical letter to either get rid of him (in other words, kill him because nobody wants a one-eyed, aggressive rooster) or they will fine us $900 and kill him themselves.
We are still unsure who the complaint came from but at this stage our highest priority is to find a home for Bo (the rooster) otherwise our only other option is to get him put down (eating him is no option because he is a family pet!).
We were also told by the council that we are living in an URBAN community, meaning we were never allowed to have him in the first place (of course, we are NOT urban... but if somebody has made a complaint they can twist any old fact) and that we are not even allowed to have more than 5 poultry.
The whole family is extremely angry about this. I mean... is this what it really has to come to? The council being the decider of an animal's life simply because somebody can't stand a bit of crowing THAT COULD HAVE BEEN RESOLVED if the problem were discussed with the neighbours? It's wrong!! Bo is our pet!! If somebody complained about somebody's dog barking... would they force the owner of that dog to put him down within two weeks? I haven't checked but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be the case.
I don't want to plead but if ANYBODY knows of a good home within Gippsland that will happily take a poor rooster (he's a very beautiful rooster!) - we're even happy to pay! it's going to cost us $60 just to put him down anyway... or $900 from the council for them to put him down.
And so mean!! I can't believe someone would go straight to the council rather than talking to your family first. THEY ought to be the ones relocated from the neighbourhood!
