Ocean Springs roosters relocated

Published 8:59 am Wednesday, February 8, 2012

The Sun Herald reports two women who work at a local grocery store found a home for him with nice pens and six hens to oversee.

Malcolm, the other surviving downtown rooster, also known as The General, is living in an attorney’s storeroom, waiting to be adopted as well.

A flock of about 10 roosters showed up in July and seemed to belong to no one. Only 2 roosters — affectionately known as Carl and The General — are still alive and had become a novelty in the downtown area of Ocean Springs.

The roaming roosters attract onlookers that feed and photograph them. Carl has Facebook and Twitter pages that list rooster sightings, photographs. The General has also jumped in the social media action with a Facebook page.

There are at least seven animal control incident reports since November depicting children who were scratched or chased by the yard birds. The latest incident with Carl occurred last week when a woman said her 2-year-old daughter was scratched.

Rachel Evans and Alexandra Arellano have fed and looked after Carl since last spring, when he arrived downtown with a group of chickens. He’s a Rhode Island Red.

“He made me happy to be at work,” Evans said.

Arellano said, “He brought character and charm to downtown.”

It was Evans and Arellano who took it upon themselves this week to find a real home for him. They got Mayor Connie Moran’s approval first, and they aren’t disclosing his exact location to the general public.

Carl “was receiving threats from people who were upset,” Evans said.

Attorney Arthur Carlisle had Malcolm in the back storage room of his law office Tuesday evening while he and staffers looked for a home. Malcolm is a large Barred Plymouth Rock, a black-and-white American backyard breed. Carlisle said had enjoyed watching Malcolm downtown.

However, Carlisle said, “That is definitely a wild bird.”

Business owner Gina Sabbatini said she has had enough of Malcolm and she doesn’t think it’s fair to the rooster to let him roam in the traffic and sleep at night in the bedding around the downtown flowers.

“It’s like being homeless,” she said.

His poop gets tracked into her shop and she has to clean and disinfect regularly.

When she would leave the door open, he would come in and she would have to shoo him off her merchandise tables. People wanted to pet him and she feared if he pecked them, she could be liable.

“And is it really best for the roosters to be on concrete all day?” she asked. “Maybe it’s not fair for them to be a tourist attraction.”

Moran, who has supported the roosters, said on Facebook page: “Although Carl has no spurs, I don’t think the city can allow Carl to roam around downtown since the chicken-scratch incident Friday in front of Tato-Nut.”