Sleep is a serious matter for some. Interrupting it is a grave offense and those who are found guilty of the act can find themselves on the receiving end of some harsh - albeit unfair - punishment. Unfortunately, two Pennsylvania roosters had to learn this lesson the hard way.
Two roosters made the mistake of waking up a woman up one morning and she responded by killing them, prompting police to charge her with animal cruelty.
The situation played out several weeks ago when 21-year-old Jenna Caso was sleeping inside a home in Ashland and heard the roosters crowing just after 6 a.m. In response, armed with a pistol, she walked outside where the two had wandered and shot them each three times. When asked by a witness why she shot the birds, she responded, "they woke me up," before going back inside her home - presumably to go back to sleep.
A bizarre act turned tragic, however, because the two roosters were viewed as members of the community.
Tony Loftus a worker at the local Pioneer Tunnel coal mine noted how the two roosters were actually brothers who had been donated to the tunnel a year ago after the rooster and hen who came before them, Big Red and Ann-Thracite, died of natural causes. They soon became a tourist attraction as they would often be heard doing their iconic crow at sunrise or seen roaming the area together.
For him, his fondest memories were the two roosters following him down into the mines when he opened up as well as hearing them crow in the morning.
"Normally, when I come in the morning to fire up the steam locomotive, the roosters would be crowing when the sun comes up. I know I will probably miss that," Loftus said.
Locals outside of the tunnel mirrored that sorrow, labelling Caso's acts as "extreme."
"They seemed to be like farm animals," said resident Samantha Kinkaid, who saw the roosters often and, like nearly everyone else, viewed them as part of the community. "They never bothered anybody. I never heard of them attacking anybody. They seemed pretty friendly."
As a result of the shooting, local police charged Caso with misdemeanor animal cruelty and reckless endangerment. She now faces a preliminary hearing May 4.
Authorities noted that no one, not even Caso herself, had complained about the roosters before then, making the shooting even more upsetting for the community.
