The Caw of the Wild Is Heard in the Big City

Whether a rooster has the right to live and die (and crow) in Beverly Hills is a question, like most, with advocates on both sides.

You may recall the story of the rooster owned by Josh, a 12-year-old Beverly Hills boy, that was condemned by Beverly Hills statutes and had to be taken to Evelyn Weidner’s farm and garden, at Leucadia, in the family Mercedes.

Strongly against roosters, Russell A. Johnson writes: “When besieged by the inescapable aural assault of sirens, car alarms and horns, police helicopters, and trash trucks, a city resident has little patience left for a ‘wonderfully reassuring’ bird which thinks every passing car headlight signals the dawn of a new day. I’ll get my ‘clarion call’ from an alarm clock. Bring on the recipe for rooster stew.”

It should be noted, though, that Johnson lives in Mar Vista, not Beverly Hills.

In Beverly Hills, evidently, the city bans any sound louder than the sound of ice in a cocktail mixer.

Joseph P. Krengel of Santa Monica suggests that considering the exotic cuisine of Beverly Hills, a rooster might be more acceptable as a “roaster.” “Add wine of choice.”

Reita Hamilton of Camarillo suspects a form of snobbery as the true reason roosters are banned in Beverly Hills. “After all, the cacodemonic shriek of the parrot equals the raucous crow of the rooster. But we all know that owning a rooster is not nearly as exotic as owning a pet.”

A sturdy defense of roosters and all other animals comes from 9-year-old Amy Kaufman of Chatsworth. “I think it was mean to take Josh’s rooster away. A lot of people love the crow in the morning. I haven’t heard a rooster much, but I like the other animal sounds.

“For instance, in the spring sheep come into the field across the street from my house. Everyone in the neighborhood loves the sound. A sight of one of the squirrels that live in my back yard can brighten my day. If people have cats and dogs and birds as normal pets, I think a rooster can certainly be normal, too! If an animal wants to make noise, let them. After all, have you ever thought animals think humans make too much noise?”

My complaint that hundreds of thousands of children are growing up here without ever hearing a rooster crow, a cow moo, a duck quack, a donkey bray, a horse whinny, a pig grunt, a crow caw or a sheep go baa has also prompted responses.

Godrey K. Marks, recalls that some years ago when he and his wife were staying overnight in an English farmhouse, his wife shook him awake at 6 a.m. shouting “They do! They really do!”

“They really do what?” Marks asked, somewhat alarmed. “They really do go ‘cock-a-doodle-do!’ She had never before heard a rooster. And I must add, I have yet to hear a rooster sound the clarion call in Beverly Hills and I’ve lived here for 35 years.”

On the other hand, Judy McGilvray of Pasadena recalls that while vacationing on another couple’s sailboat in Yugoslavia, the wife’s knowledge of how a sheep baas saved an embarrassing impasse in a butcher shop.

“On one of our shopping jaunts to provision the boat, a leg of lamb was on our list. Jane, not speaking Croatian or Serbian, pointed to her leg and went ‘baa.’ After cracking up the butcher, the other customers and me, we got our leg of lamb in no time.”

All is not lost. Ken Jewett reports “for crows cawing I suggest Playa del Rey during the first hour after sunrise.” Char Arno reports from San Pedro that in the Point Fermin area they don’t hear cows or pigs, but “flocks of big black crows caw, wild green parrots squawk, families of raccoons chitter-chatter, diving hummingbirds go clickety-clackety, doves coo, sea gulls screech.

“Yes, we do have roosters here and there around town, but I’m glad they don’t live next door to me! Gentle cooing of doves is a much nicer way to be awakened.”

Arno notes, alas, that a daughter-in-law visiting from Blandain, Belgium, says San Pedro has more wildlife than her native village, where pesticides have virtually eliminated rabbits, skunks and other so-called pests.

Ah, brave new world.