Disabled rooster loses fight for home

PETOSKEY, Mich., July 17 (UPI) -- A northern Michigan woman has lost a long legal battle to keep her disabled pet rooster in a suburban neighborhood.

Beaker, who suffered permanent injury when he was dropped at the age of 3 days by students at a Montessori kindergarten, will have to move to the Second Chance Animal Ranch in Petoskey, Mich., The Detroit News reported Saturday. But Sharon Peters worries about her pet's future, since he can barely see, has a club foot, and is frightened of other chickens but is comfortable with her and her husband.

"We're his flock, basically," she told the News.

Peters, who teaches at the Montessori school, brought Beaker home in 2007.

"I have sucker written across my forehead," she said.

A neighbor complained a year later about Beaker's crowing. Peters fought to keep him before the zoning board, the county commission and two courts, until a circuit judge ruled the rooster had to go.

Emmet County, at the tip of Michigan's lower peninsula, has an ordinance barring farm animals on residential property.

The Peters picked up both allies and enemies during the fight. Some neighbors bought T-shiris saying "I'm a Beaker Backer" and others sent them anonymous threats.