Mariana Benson |

By John Harvey

IT SEEMS the chickens are coming home to roost for an uproarious fowl which for the past few months has been causing residents in and around Nelson Mandela’s Bay’s Target Kloof sleepless nights.

Far from it being a cock-and-bull story, numerous residents have complained that the rooster has been sounding off as early as 3am some mornings and even gives a matinee performance at midday.

So troublesome has its crowing become, that some residents are only able to make it through work on a wing and a prayer the next day. One resident, who asked not to be named, even reported seeing the rooster playing chicken with the treacherous Target Kloof traffic, ducking and weaving its way between the oncoming Ford Bantams and higher-end chick-magnets.

“There were three roosters but I believe that after the municipality intervened there is now only one. However it is still making a hell of a noise,” said Mill Park resident Mariana Benson.

“It makes such a noise that it sounds like a duet. In summer it was even worse, beginning to crow at about 3am. It was very hot and we were forced to sleep with the windows open but when we woke up there was no going back to sleep. There is an eagle that sometimes circles over Target Kloof and I think it should swoop down and get some KFC,” Benson quipped.

However, owners Michael and Caroline Claasen concurred with residents that the rooster was problematic with Michael saying he himself sometimes wanted to “ring its neck”.

“I am complying with the municipality’s instructions to have it removed, as I did with the other two. The problem is it flies up into a tree which is surrounded by heavy growth so I can’t get to it. Anyone is welcome to try to catch it,” he said.

Busisiwe Zungu, who works in the municipality’s environmental health department, confirmed two notices had been served on the Claasens to remove the birds from their property, which is rented. “He [Claasen] promised to remove the remaining rooster. If this does not happen they will be fined R500, and R500 each day after that, if the problem persists.”

This is a shortened version of an article that first appeared in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday April 14, 2012.