Rooster Abandoned On LI Aided By Off-Duty SPCA Chief, Rescuer

MIDDLE ISLAND, NY — Forget about why the chicken crossed the road — the question is why the rooster was roaming on the side of a semi-rural road on Long Island.

Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Chief Roy Gross decided to steal a few moments of rest and relaxation with his wife, Lois, at Smith Point County Park's outer beach on Thursday, but their idea for a restful evening did not go as planned.

At the beach, the couple first encountered an uninvited guest — a black snake — in the ladies bathroom that needed to be coaxed back outside into its natural habitat near the campgrounds. Then on the couple's way back home, a rooster was walking along a desolate stretch of roadway in Middle Island.

Lois had spotted the animal walking by itself in a heavily-wooded area on Whiskey Road and Creekside Drive in Middle Island just after 6 p.m., and she was concerned about it getting run over by a car. So Gross turned the car around when he reached the next street, but when they came back to the location, the bird was not quite visible.

"So we put on our phone the sound of a chicken," Gross said, adding, "I call it, and it came right over, and I see this beautiful bird."

However, the animal would not allow Gross to capture it, and because he was in his own personal vehicle, he did not have any equipment with him to move the rescue along. He tried picking the animal up and also throwing a towel over it to calm it down, but to no avail.

"I just couldn't do it," he said.

Then it started to get dark.

Gross ended up calling in Lisa Jaeger, an animal rescuer and rehabilitator from Jaeger's Run Animal Rescue in Port Jefferson, to help with the animal's capture. It went pretty smoothly because Jaeger did not arrive until around 8 p.m., and by that time it was dark, so the animal had set down to roost in a nearby tree.

Jaeger was able to grab the rooster with ease.

She could not be reached for comment for this story.

Gross said the animal will be placed in a new home at a farm for rescues.

The young rooster was "thirsty and hungry and most likely recently abandoned" and in area where there was no water or food available, he said. Gross also noted that roosters are not allowed in the Town of Brookhaven, and surmised the person who had it could not take care of it and dumped it there at the side of the road.

"I had a bottle of water and I poured water and it started drinking immediately," he said. "It doesn't look like it was there long, but somebody abandoned it and we have to do something about that. We get so many abandonments of different animals and it happens quite too often."

Animal abandonment is a misdemeanor carrying a penalty of up to one year imprisonment and/or a $1,000 fine. The SPCA is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual or individuals responsible. SPCA detectives are "currently canvasing the area for anyone who might have witnessed this crime," Gross said.

Gross said the SPCA urges pet owners who are unable to care for their animals to contact them for guidance rather than abandon them, adding that there are local animal shelters, many rescues and animal sanctuaries available to assist.

Gross said animal cruelty will not be tolerated in Suffolk, and asked anyone with information about the abandoned rooster or any other incidents to call the SPCA at 631 -382-7722.

He called the rescue a good ending.

"Thank God we went there and we saw it," he said, adding that he did go back to the location today and there were no other animals loose. "So, hopefully that's the last one."

"It's safe and sound right now," he said.