Family fear losing pet cockerels after one noise complaint
A family have said they fear losing their cockerels because of a single noise anonymous Facebook complaint.
Paul and Kirstie Haylor have been handed a noise abatement notice over their pets, Salty and Pepper.
The couple said they could be forced to re home or put down the pair, which they claimed would be traumatic for their autistic sons who love the animals.
Mr and Mrs Haylor, from the Isle of Wight village of Havenstreet, said the process had been 'farcical' and asked where you could keep cockerels if not in the countryside.
The problems began with an anonymous 'sarcastic comment' on the village Facebook group asking if anyone was woken by the birds' distinctive call.
Despite their immediate neighbours reassuring them that the pets were not an issue, an Environmental Health investigation was opened by the local council.
The couple, who breed rare chickens, claim they were promised a meeting with the officer who installed sound monitoring equipment in their flat – but this never materialised and they were instead handed an abatement notice.
Now, if they are unable to stop or reduce the animal noise they may face further penalties and even prosecution.
Mrs Hayler has criticised the coalition-run Isle of Wight council for their 'black and white' process which doesn't adequately cover their situation.
She said: 'It all started with an anonymous post on the Havenstreet community Facebook group, a sarcastic comment asking if anyone was bothered by the sound of cockerels waking them up in the morning. Everybody who replied said no.'
Once the Environmental Health investigation was opened sound monitoring equipment was installed in the family's flat to record the noise levels and they felt 'reassured' by the process.
'[The officer] told us he would be back in touch to advise us on what we could do, so we were kind of reassured at that point,' she continued.
'Then we received various letters. He invited us to meet up, and to reply within ten days, which we did, and the next thing we knew, an abatement notice was posted through our door.
'We don't understand why that step of meeting up was missed, and we've been going back and forth since... It's all become a bit farcical. I've tried to be sympathetic, and we're willing to make changes.'
Mrs Hayler added that there would be outrage if someone suggested putting a noisy dog to sleep.
She said: 'It's very black and white, and there doesn't seem to be any room for other considerations, like the fact that we live rurally, and the fact that they're children's pets.
'It's all very clinical. There's no human touch to it... We've had them since we moved here, seven years.
'Our eldest chicken died last weekend, and I cried and cried, she was such a fab chicken. They're our pets, and our two autistic sons are really attached to them.'
The Isle of Wight Council declined to comment while the investigation is ongoing.
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