A JUVENILE cock was saved from a certain death by a good Samaritan who found it on the surf in Amanzimtoti Main Beach on July 6, wet and cold.

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The woman who found the chicken asked not to be named but said she had gone down to the beach with her son to take photographs of the sunrise.

“As I looked down at the sea, I saw a chicken floundering in the waves. I asked my son who had returned from the shoreline to take photographs and he confirmed it was a live chicken,” said the woman.

She and her son rescued the chicken from the water and covered it with a jacket to keep it warm as it was shivering. A second chicken was lying dead on the surf. She took the chicken home, washed it in baby shampoo and blow-dried it with a hair dryer.

For years, the South Coast beaches have been used by people who perform rituals and sacrifice animals in contravention of the municipal bylaws. The South Coast SUN has written about chickens and goats being slaughtered on the beach. Some of the animals manage to escape before they are killed.

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eThekwini’s spokesperson, Gugu Sisilana has previously said while the municipality respects people’s religions, it was against slaughtering on the beach as it was against the bylaws and it made the beach unsafe for other members of the public.

The chicken has been named Vernon and is being kept by another resident, Carol Lane, with other rescues in her yard.

“He is pretty strong and does not have a crop filled with sand and seawater so we can only hope he did not suffer lung damage. He has been introduced to the rest of the flock, first in an isolated cage. He did not know what mealies were and would not eat them. He is slowly watching the other chickens eat mealies and is pecking at the corn,” said Carol.

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