MANATEE COUNTY – A modern urban wildlife saga involving a wayward rooster at a Bayshore Gardens condo community intensified this week as the agile fowl evaded capture by residents and consumption by advancing coyotes.

A pair of coyotes first arrived at the Fourth Bayshore Condo during Thanksgiving week, residents said. A seemingly well-nourished coyote reappeared on Wednesday at roughly 1:30 p.m., sprinting along a condo sidewalk after an unusually long period of silence from the rooster.

“The happy Hollywood-ending for the redheaded hero appears to be over,” said one resident who asked not to be identified because of emerging divisions in the community regarding the rooster.

The red-and-brown-feathered bird, however, apparently was in hiding and started roaring again late Wednesday and again early Thursday, “almost in contempt,” several residents observed, including one who added. "The bird is gaining weight."

On Monday, the rooster successfully dodged two residents using fishing nets. Other residents acknowledged surreptitiously providing food and water to give the fowl a fighting chance.

Calls to local authorities, including Manatee County Animal Services, were unproductive, according to Ronnie King, a condo board officer. An animal control worker indicated the agency would collect the rooster only after it is caught. Euthanasia is a possibility.

Manatee County amended a land code ordinance in 2013 to allow backyard chickens in some residential areas. But roosters are fowl-non-grata (plus ducks, turkeys and peafowl).

If you are missing a rooster – or want one – contact Fourth Bayshore, no questions asked, at 941-756-9451 or fouthbayshore@yahoo.com.

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