Animal Rescuers Search For Lost Rooster In Crocheron Park

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — On Monday morning, a man freed a rooster who’d been tied to a tree branch in Crocheron Park but, according to local animal advocates, that’s actually when the chicken’s troubles began — since he is still on the loose.

“Helping the animal was great, but the job wasn’t done,” said anthrozoologist John Di Leonardo, a senior manager at PETA and president of Long Island Orchestrating for Nature (LION) — an animal advocacy and rescue organization — who was tagged in a neighborhood Facebook post of the rooster, and told Patch that he has volunteers en route to Crocheron Park to rescue the bird.

“Roosters are many, many generations away from their wild brethren. This guy can’t fend for himself, he can’t forage for food he has no defenses against predators, ” explained Di Leonardo, noting that abandoning domesticated animals — chickens included — is both against the law in New York State, and something he regards as “just as cruel as abandoning a dog or a cat.”

While it is illegal to abandon or own a rooster in New York City, Di Leonardo says he is tagged in about a dozen posts a day of domesticated animals on the loose.

“I’m in a lot of community groups for that reason,” he said, pointing out that when people find an abandoned animal he recommends calling Animal Care Centers of NYC, LION, or the Wild Bird Fund for fowl specifically. LION itself “does most of the rooster rescue across the city," he said.

Once rescued, LION fosters animals in “reputable homes, whether that’s an animal sanctuary or a private home who’s going to love them and never eat them,” says Di Leonardo, adding that roosters are usually taken upstate or out of state.

But in the case of the Bayside rooster, things aren’t looking as good.

Jimmy Howard, the community outreach coordinator at LION who lives nearby Crocheron Park in Queens, had just shown up to look for the rooster on Tuesday afternoon when he talked with Patch.

“This is like finding a needle in a haystack,” he said, noting that since time has passed, and someone else already unsuccessfully scouted the area for the chicken, he wasn’t optimistic about finding the bird.

“I’ve got to look where she looked and then some. I have to take a big stick and look through bushes and piles of leaves and see if anything moves. It’s going to take a really long time,” he said, adding that he’d likely be in the 51-acre park for an hour or two.

Although this rooster’s future remains uncertain, both Howard and Di Leonardo share the same sentiment about what people can do in the future to better protect domesticated animals and fowl (in addition to calling animal rescuers for help as soon as possible).

As Di Leonardo puts it: “If the plight of this rooster touched upon your heart, then I encourage you to think about how this rooster is no different than the rooster on your plate, and consider going vegan and taking those animals off your plate altogether. That’s really the best way to help those animals," he said.

Di Leonardo also said that anyone who sees this rooster should contact LION.