DUFUR, Ore. — There’s a big squawk in a small town over a 5-year-old girl who’s trying to hang on to her pet rooster despite an ordinance intended to stop the crowing.
Ayla Macnab, slept in her mother’s lap Tuesday night while Mayor Arthur Smith of Dufur presided over a hearing to determine the fate of Dallas, the rooster in question.
A neighbor has complained about crowing. The Columbia Gorge farming town has an ordinance that prohibits “roosters and other loud fowl.” The Macnabs say they got Dallas before the ordinance went into effect in August 2012.
The dispute has attracted the attention of thousands online, thanks to the efforts of Jill Macnab, who told The Oregonian that her daughter would be traumatized if she lost Dallas: “It’s not a chicken to her; it’s her best friend.”
Smith has 10 days to make his decision. It is subject to an appeal to the City Council.
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