IN THE last six months numerous domestic cockerels have been dumped on the side of the road by their unwanted owner.
The confused birds were left to fend for themselves close to the Lickey Hills in an area with no food or water and nowhere to roost.
Although three were rescued and taken to Hillfields Animal Sanctuary another turned up at the end of last week.
Three show type cockerels were first spotted around October, last year, by a Bromsgrove dog walker, who contacted The Standard and wished to remain anonymous.
The woman began to feed and water them everyday until three turned into five, presumably dumped over night.
With the help of another walker, she continued to look after them and even catch them so they could be rehomed by Lyn Tudor from Hillfields Animal Sanctuary, in Blackwell.
After numerous attempts to capture the cocks, the walkers finally managed to get the three birds to the sanctuary. The other two have since disappeared and there are fears they have been killed by a fox.
The walker said: “This was a cruel and heartless act with a complete lack of compassion.
“This same person is obviously breeding the birds or discovering they are cockerels then just dumping them rather than trying to rehome them.
“This needs to stop and the person needs to understand this is an act of cruelty and should be reported as such.”
Lyn Tuder, the owner of Hillfields, said: “It is disgusting somebody is breeding those animals and dumping them – people should be responsible and re-home them or failing that keep them.
“In the last 34 years, I have never come across somebody just dumping them on the road and in such a place where a serious accident could be caused.”
Lyn added it was an ongoing problem as people and schools hatched chickens and did not take into account how many would be male and would need to be rehomed, as cockerels fought so could not be kept together.
Lyn said she had more than 100 birds because of this and struggled to afford to feed them.
Anyone with any information should call the RSPCA on 0300 1234 999 or visit www.hillfields-animal-sanctuary.com to support the good work the sanctuary does.
