Wednesday, August 20, 2008

How I Met Hoborooster


It was around the same time last summer when my family first noticed something rustling around in the bushes behind our house. I thought maybe it was a wild boar because I'd seen a whole family of them living there a few months before (I think someone has since trapped and "humanely euthanized" them). So anyway, I had some stale popcorn leftover from one of my movie nights and decided to sprinkle it on the lawn for the wild birds to eat. I was going back into the house and for some reason I turned around. . . just in time to catch a glimpse of a stray rooster scuttling back into the bushes after stealing a piece of popcorn!! I couldn't believe there was a rooster in my backyard!! But on second thought, there are actually a lot of feral animals where I live. . . cats, mongoose, boars and chickens.

Unfortunately, cockfighting is also a very popular pastime here and a lot of the feral chickens around these parts are descendants or escapees of roosters raised for fighting. Someone told me that a guy nearby raises roosters for this exact purpose, so I suspect that Hoborooster was actually a fugitive on the run from that man's farm! Hoborooster is so tame now that I can hardly imagine him ever challenging another rooster.

He wasn't always that way. He was really shy and skittish at first but soon got used to seeing us in the backyard and would come running whenever I stirred up some bugs while digging in the garden. Now he wakes us up every morning at 5:30 a.m. demanding to be let into the house so he can chill out in the living room and watch t.v. with us. He even hops onto the couch to sit next to me and I couldn't be happier to know that his story has a happy ending. He's been rescued from a life of violence and is now a safe and happy little guy.

1 comment:

Maria-Thérèse ~ www.afiori.com said...

WAY TO GO ROOSTER!!!
I'm glad he escaped!

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