Life-saving honeytrap clips rowdy rooster's feathers

Alex Kerr searches for Henry the rooster in Glen Rd, Dunedin. Photo / Otago Daily Times

A cocksure rooster with a fancy for flight has finally been captured - thanks to a honeytrap.

The rooster, dubbed Henry, hit national headlines last week after spending five months on the run in Glen Rd, Dunedin, and garnering noise complaints because of its early morning crowing.

The City Council gave Glen Rd resident Alex Kerr until today to capture the bothersome bird before pest control staff would attempt to catch the rooster - or failing that, shoot him.

But yesterday Kerr caught Henry after appealing to his most animal of instincts.

"I used the biggest weapon of all - attraction," Kerr said.

"[I went] out and got a hen and put it in a big cage and backed it up with another big cage and filled it up with grass and food and put it by the spot he liked to have a dust bath.

"He saw the hen puffing and preening and it was an easy job."

Henry would now spend his days on a Taieri Mount farm, "'hopefully to have a happy life", Kerr said.

He was thankful the council provided a stay of execution from Friday to give him the extra time to capture the bird.

He was "absolutely stoked" to save Henry's life and thanked those who contacted him with suggestions or helped trying to capture him.