DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Foster Village resident Roy Maijohn puts one of his roosters in a cage covered with black plastic to stop the rooster from crowing.
Group helps simmer
down roostersThe Hawaii Game Breeders
offer tips to quiet the birds so
people can sleep
A group devoted to cockfighting is hoping to spread good will by offering their fowl knowledge and feral chicken-trapping services to residents who are sick and tired of roosters crowing at all hours.
Pat Royos, who lobbies against legislation that would make cockfighting a felony, said she hopes the Hawaii Game Breeders Association's efforts will soften lawmakers' and the community's attitudes against them.
Royos, first vice president of group, and other members answer feral chicken and crowing rooster complaints with some simple advice: "When you turn on the light at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. to go to the bathroom, the rooster thinks the sun is coming up," she said. "Put a towel or blanket over the box or cage so they won't be able to see the light."
Neighborhood board members and City Council members have passed on complaints from residents to this group as well as to the Animal Care Foundation.
Lennard Pepper, vice chairman of the Salt Lake/ Aliamanu/Foster Village Neighborhood Board, said the Game Breeders group has been helpful.
"Apparently the breeders know how to keep these chickens quiet," Pepper said. "If we can get a nice sleep, that's all we ask."
He said the problem is a health issue when people cannot get any sleep and get irritable.
"We solved a problem in this very small area of the neighborhood, but as far as I know, the problem goes on in other areas," he said.
The group helps catch feral chickens by setting its traps where the chickens are known to roost. (Although the Hawaiian Humane Society has a few chicken traps, there is a long waiting list for them.)
Royos takes home any chickens they catch and gives them away to anyone who wants them.
Royos and other members of her group visited a Foster Village home where two crowing roosters live.
Arly Ishoda said he was initially put off by strangers arriving at his door with a complaint from his neighbor, who he thought should have come to him personally.
"If they (are) complaining, they should have come see me," Ishoda said he told Royos. "We could have solved it between us instead of having somebody else come over."
But Ishoda acknowledged he had no idea how to keep the roosters from crowing at night. So he heeded their advice and had his nephew cover the coop with black plastic bags at night, and the family kept the kitchen light off.
"What they tell me is true," he said. "Once they see light (they crow)."
Ishoda said he appreciated the visit from the Game Breeders. "That was nice of them," he said. Now the roosters do not crow until dawn.
City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi said the problem of barking dogs and crowing roosters arose when the Hawaiian Humane Society stopped answering nuisance calls because it failed to receive $80,000 in additional funding from the City Council.
"The burden was laid on the Police Department," she said. "They are very busy. They're understaffed, and they have so much to do."
Kobayashi said the Game Breeders and Animal Care Foundation came forward to answer nuisance calls, and she is trying to legitimize the groups to get some funding so they can be reimbursed for educational materials and travel costs.
She has been passing some calls on to the groups.
Police Maj. Doug Miller agreed that responding to animal nuisance calls taxes HPD's resources.
"We do welcome whatever assistance that the community can come up with, because it is a challenge for our patrol officers to take on this task," said Miller, who helped draft the animal nuisance laws.
It often takes an officer 45 minutes to answer a call, he said. To establish an animal nuisance offense, an officer must wait outside to verify 10 minutes of continuous crowing or barking or 30 minutes of intermittent crowing or barking.
Miller expressed reservations about a group trying to promote an illegal activity but said he is not familiar with the Game Breeders Association.
"If it's just to help with a problem, there may be some room for that approach," he said. "We're willing to work with groups or individuals in addressing the problems."
Anyone with crowing roosters or feral chickens in their neighborhood can call the Hawaii Game Breeders Association at 239-9611 and 256-4502, or Animal Care Foundation at 941-2452.
