Henry the rooster lives to see another day

Henry the rooster evades captors in Dunedin. Photo / Chrisitine O'Connor

Henry the wily rooster dodged a bullet yesterday and had his deadline extended.

Glen Rd resident Alex Kerr said the Dunedin City Council emailed him yesterday extending the time allowed to catch the stray rooster. However, if Henry remained on the loose come Monday, he would be shot.

Kerr found Henry a new home on a Brighton farm after his crowing in the Glen for four months spurred noise complaints to the council.

But when Kerr's several attempts to catch Henry failed, the council threatened to shoot the rooster yesterday.

However, Kerr's request for a deadline extension was granted.

The plan to catch Henry today included volunteers and a "great big net".

Kerr asked Otago residents to share their ideas with him on the best way to catch Henry at alexkerr05@gmail.com.

"There are people out there with skills to help with this situation."

Steph Carline contacted the Otago Daily Times yesterday suggesting feeding Henry chicken food soaked in alcohol before the chase to make it easier to catch the cunning rooster.

Council compliance solutions manager Ros MacGill said the council had allowed Kerr more time to try to catch and relocate the trouble-making, noisy and hard-to-catch rooster.

"He will attempt to do this himself over the weekend. If the rooster is still there on Monday, we will get a pest contractor to try to catch it for relocation. If this is unsuccessful, we will have no alternative but to shoot the rooster."