It's the year of the rooster ? and Henry's only just got his "cock-a-doodle-doo".
But the six-month-old rooster won't get to crow on Durie Hill much longer, because someone has complained, the Wanganui District Council (WDC) has visited and Henry has been labelled an "environmental hazard" ? he spoils the environment.
Nola
Morahan is crying foul at the person who complained about her rooster's crowing.
Happy Henry is oblivious to the cacophony of barking in the neighbourhood, and when all is weighed up, the 12 dogs in the vicinity make more noise, more often, than Henry, and this is where Mrs Morahan draws the line.
She said dogs bark because they are lonely and bored. Henry is happy.
Fifteen minutes before daylight ? between half-past six and seven ? Henry will crow about 10 cock-a-doodles, and at half-past seven to eight o'clock when breakfast is being prepared, another three cock-a-doodles.
"Henry's crow started a month ago, and sometimes he makes mistakes and will crow in the middle of the night.
"But he spends only a total of 15 to 20 minutes a day crowing, and sometimes on a moonlit night he will crow to the moon.
"He greets the new day and crows because he's filled with the joy of living," Mrs Morahan said.
Henry is a high-born rooster ? a pure-bred Barna Velda ? and his home is a Durie Hill address, a Plunket St garden where he lives with his mother, a pullet named Wilhemina, and a brood of aunties.
It's an idyllic setting ? a large garden backing on to a rural gully where Henry is happy and causes no trouble, and his human mother, Mrs Morahan, who assisted with hatching Henry just before Christmas ? he hatched in her hand. The Morahans have lived in Plunket St for 45 years and have always kept hens.
"They are therapeutic, and the elderly from the Home of Compassion and children's groups come to visit and feed them.
Mrs Morahan asked: "How many children have seen a rooster?" WDC environmental health officer Therese Back said a neighbour complained that Henry had crowed in the early hours of a morning.
"The council bylaw is quite clear that no roosters are allowed in the urban area, dogs are".
Henry the rooster has been given two weeks to vacate his home on the hill, which backs on to rural land.
