Times's up for Henry the rooster

Henry the rooster got his notice to depart? today.
Yesterday Nola Morahan of Durie Hill received an official letter giving Henry his one-day eviction notice.
Today. Be gone. Pack your swag. Leave immediately ? or a warrant would be executed and Henry "seized or impounded by an enforcement officer" under section 165.
Mrs Morahan feels victimised by this "nasty letter" and is reluctant to share the bad news with her rooster or send him packing.
She was given a verbal warning by the Wanganui District Council (WDC) environmental officer on June 9, to "get rid of an environmental hazard" ? her Barna Velda rooster.
WDC manager regulatory services Bob Davies said it would have been preferable to send a letter to Mrs Morahan within a day of receiving her verbal warning, but stands by the back-dated notice to evict Henry ? two weeks is up and Henry has to go.
Henry hit the headlines on June 11 when the Chronicle was advised that a neighbour had complained that the cock, which had just got his cock-a-doodle-doo in the past month, spoiled their early morning with his crowing.
The council visited and Henry was told to leave the Plunket St garden he shares with his mother, Wilhemina.
Mr Davies said they had not received any more complaints since the first, which they had acted upon. Offers flooded in from Wanganui residents and farmers in the region supporting Mrs Morahan, who hatched Henry in her hand six months ago.
Pupils of Room Three at Wanganui East School read about Henry in the Chronicle as part of their "bird unit".
They think Henry is cool and are happy he lives with his mother, and so they decided to write to the rooster.
"You are cool, Henry? I like to eat puha too?. you are lucky to live with your mother? you came out of a cool egg," Kristopher wrote.
And from Nukuhia: "I am happy that Mrs Brown gives you puha to eat? I like you."
The 16 new entrant children are rearing 16 "Henry" chicks in the classroom.
Every day the chicks' progress is recorded. They are weighed on scales using small wooden blocks as weights. On Friday a chick weighed eight blocks, and on Monday, 13 blocks.
Their wing growth was also recorded in a large book, but they're too young to register a cock-a-doodle-doo.
Back on the streets, it's a dog's life in Wanganui, but Henry the rooster may be the catalyst to change the top pet position.
Mrs Morahan may mount a petition to change the 1996 Wanganui District Council bylaw that prohibits roosters (and pigs) in the urban area.
She was still reluctant to part with her pet and was trying methods to stop the cock's middle-of-the-night crows.
The "no-crow" would come about through elevation of his perch: when he went to crow, his head would hit the coop roof.
Henry also had a sister, but she died suddenly when she reached her "chick-teens."
"They would perch together with their mother, Wilhemina, and when I go and look in the coop, Henry is back in the same spot where he perched with his sister," Mrs Morahan said.
Mrs Morahan would like to keep Henry until the warmer weather, July or August, when he would produce chicks, but Mr Davies said she would be fined $500 for breach of the bylaw and $50 a day for continued breach.
Wanganui residents had also contacted the Chronicle and pin-pointed roosters in city suburbs that they had no issue with, but until a complaint was received by the council, those roosters could stay.
PICTURED: Sixteen roosters in the hand?. Room three pupils at Wanganui East School are pictured with one of 16 "Henry" chicks while clutching their letters to Henry the rooster from Durie Hill. Front left: Roimata Mako, Zyana Clarke, teacher-aide Mayanne Brown and Chelsea McCuish. Back left: Campbell Rippon and Patrick Buckland.