Nicola Wood keeps about 100 free range chickens and has rehomed some roosters from Wardlaw Glade. Photo / Troy Baker
Dumped roosters are roaming Whakatāne’s rural roads, but residents concerned for their welfare say it’s hard to get anyone to take responsibility.
“Dumping them is cruel. These are domesticated animals. They don’t know how to take care of themselves in the wild,” Edgecumbe free-range poultry keeper Nicola Wood said.
“If you can’t look after them or rehome them and you can’t bring yourself to kill them, don’t breed them.”
Wood recently rescued about 13 roosters from Wardlaw Glade in Waimana after Whakatāne resident Denise Peiris posted on Facebook that someone had dumped them.
“All they need is some high fencing and a shed with a couple of roosts in it. Feed them once a day and after a period of time, if nobody wants them, humanely put them down.
“They could also try and discourage dumping them as much as possible.”
The council’s regulation monitoring team leader Verna Kinney said the issue of abandoned or stray roosters did not fall under the jurisdiction of the council’s animal control.
“The Impounding Act does not give us the authority to impound poultry. It is not an offence under any of our bylaws to release poultry onto roadside reserves.”
When anyone reported stray roosters, council would inform them of relevant organisations to contact and, if landowners, of their rights to dispose of them.
The council had notified NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi about the roosters at Wardlaw Glade as they were responsible for that area.
Whakatāne district councillor Andrew Iles said it was an ongoing issue.
He said earlier this week he noticed at least eight roosters running around Reid Reserve on Tāneatua Road.
“I’ve just come past there and I see that one of them has been bowled on the road,” he said.
“It’s irresponsible to dump them in an environment they have no knowledge of if they’re used to being fed and housed.
“To be thrown into that environment on a busy road it’s inevitable that they end up getting run over.”
SPCA scientific officer Alison Vaughan said deserting an animal where no provision is made to meet its physical, health, and behavioural needs was an offence under the Animal Welfare Act.
“Animals abandoned in an unfamiliar environment are vulnerable to starvation, disease, predation, injury, or death.
“They may have negative impacts on the ecosystem where they were dumped, and they may also contribute to growing populations of unowned chickens and roosters.”
SPCA’s website provides advice for people needing to rehome animals.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air