Roaming Roosters Rattling Nerves In El Dorado County

EL DORADO COUNTY (CBS13) — Some neighbors are fed up over roaming roosters crowing at all hours of the day and night.

"Anytime of day...I'm sure we'll hear them," said Nicole Lussier who lives near Lumsden Park.

She was right. The roosters are ruling the roost and this Placerville neighborhood.

"About 3:30 or 4 in the morning," Julia Baker said she hears them crowing.

The roosters have been on the loose for months, and the annoyance for some neighbors is just foul.

"Everybody is getting irritated, and they've had animal control out every day to catch them," Lussier said.

Chief of animal control in El Dorado County said his workers are doing what they can to help quiet the crowing.

"We did capture some roosters last year when we first had the complaint and thought we'd solved the problem, but there are still some out there we are working on," said Chief Henry Brzezinski.

They're certainly noisy and easy to find, but the problem, once you get close enough, [is] they start to run and even fly away, making it difficult to catch them.

"We are doing everything in our power to do that," he said.

So why all the roosters?

Brzezinski said an ordinance was passed banning residents from owning roosters within the city.

"Instead of bringing them here to rehome them, they're maybe bringing them to the park. It's hard to tell," he said.

But according to another neighbor, "The number of them has increased.”

Some neighbors have learned to deal with the noise.

"It doesn't bother us around here," Lussier said.

Others say the cocks must go! But really, until they're humanely caught, the roosters will have the last crow.

Animal control is looking to capture and rehome the birds. They tell residents to call for help before taking drastic measures.