Miami Beach boots Mr. Clucky

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) -- Miami Beach has evicted a celebrity rooster, its owner and the bird's girlfriend for violating the city's farm animal ban zoning ordinance.

Mark Buckley said his beloved fowl, Mr. Clucky, has been delighting tourists up and down Lincoln Road as well as school children since escaping a slaughterhouse three years ago.

During a hearing at city hall Thursday, the arbiter ordered the trio to fly the coop. "The maintaining of your rooster and your hen in your apartment is a violation of section 10-15 of the code," said the special master, "and the fine of $50 will continue, and you are to pay it."

Mr. Clucky's caretaker vows to fight for the bicycle-riding, water bottle-drinking local attraction. "Mr. Clucky may be an outlaw, but he is no criminal," an upbeat Buckley proclaimed.

Clad in denim overalls, the bird keeper insisted that his May citation for illegally harboring a farm animal had an exception for domesticated pets, a category he believes his famous bird clearly falls under. "I can prove that I have a good pet," said Buckley, representing himself at the public proceeding. "I have a huge stack of letters in support of him here."

The special master told Mr. Clucky's handler he was crowing up the wrong nest. "If you want to be allowed to keep your rooster and your hen in your apartment and call it a pet, you might want to request that in an address to the city commission," said the city official.

Buckley's neighbors bared no sympathy for his plea. "If the rooster leaves, it's a relief to the entire building," said a resident of Mr. Clucky's apartment complex.

Buckley plans to make a formal appeal to the city commission, but he must do so before code enforcement officers forcibly remove Mr. Clucky and his companion. "I'm going to try to get him home, get him a drink of water, make sure that his little girlfriend is OK, and we're going to see where we go with this thing," said Buckley, who admits to remaining faithful in the justice system despite his defeat.

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