Family Fighting to Keep Their Pet Rooster “Pecker”

A New Hampshire family is in a fight to keep their beloved pet after city leaders tell them they have to give it up.

It's because the Lerouxs of Laconia have a pet rooster they named Pecker.

The family, though, says Pecker his much more than a farm animal.

"You love your dog, you love them up when you come home, and he comes and greets us just the same," Bridgette Leroux, who has had Pecker since October, said.

Leroux and her husband Jeffrey are being forced to get rid of their pet because they live in a residentially zoned neighborhood, which prohibits farm animals.

"I don't want him to go nowhere, I am going to be heartbroken," Jeffrey Leroux said.

It all started back in December because of a complaint from Lerouxs' next-door neighbor.

"I think the resident's feeling was if they're hearing it in December when the windows are closed, what might happen in warmer weather," Laconia City Manager Scott Meyers explained.

The Lerouxs say their pet spends 90 percent of the time inside.

"Once in a while we bring him out, maybe once a day," Bridgette said.

And despite some clucking here and there, the family claims their rooster is relatively quiet.

"He is not a noise problem any more than the dogs," Jeffrey said.

The city's zoning board denied the family's request to amend the ordinance Monday night.

"We are not trying to be bad people here," Meyers said. "You open it up for one, where does it go from there, for others who claim its a pet but really something else."

The Lerouxs plan to appeal the decision, saying Pecker won't be able to survive as anything but their pet.

"Just let us keep him," Bridgette pleaded.

Meyers says the family has the right to ask for a rehearing on their request for an amendment of the ordinance. If that is denied, the family can take the issue up in Belknap Superior Court. 

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