A rural family on the Isle of Wight say they are devastated after receiving a noise abatement notice over their pet cockerels—following a single anonymous complaint posted on a local Facebook group.
Paul and Kirstie Haylor, who live in the village of Havenstreet, have been ordered to curb the crowing of their birds, Salty and Pepper, or potentially face prosecution. The couple now fear they may be forced to rehome—or even euthanise—the animals, which they say would be traumatic for their two autistic sons, who are deeply attached to the birds.
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The dispute reportedly began with a sarcastic comment in the village Facebook group asking if anyone had been woken by the cockerels’ crowing. Despite neighbours responding that they were unbothered by the birds, the Isle of Wight Council launched an Environmental Health investigation.
The Haylors, who breed rare chickens, claim they were assured a face-to-face meeting with the officer who later installed sound-monitoring equipment in their home. However, they say this meeting never took place. Instead, they received a formal abatement notice through the post.
If the couple cannot sufficiently reduce or eliminate the noise, they could face further legal consequences, including potential prosecution. Mrs Haylor criticised the council’s handling of the matter, calling it a “black and white process” that fails to take context into account.
“It all started with an anonymous post on the Havenstreet community Facebook group,” she said. “A sarcastic comment asking if anyone was bothered by the sound of cockerels waking them up in the morning. Everybody who replied said no.” She explained that the family initially felt reassured by the installation of sound monitors and a promised follow-up from the council.
“[The officer] said he’d get back to us with advice on what we could do, so we felt reassured,” she said. “Then we got various letters. He invited us to meet and asked us to reply within ten days—which we did—but the next thing we knew, the abatement notice was pushed through the door.
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“We don’t understand why that step of meeting up was skipped. It’s all become a bit farcical. I’ve tried to be sympathetic, and we are willing to make changes.”
Mrs Haylor questioned why cockerels were being treated differently from other noisy pets. “There would be outrage if someone suggested putting a noisy dog to sleep,” she said. “The process doesn’t seem to allow for where we live—a rural village—or for the fact that these are children’s pets.”
She also revealed the emotional toll on the family. “Our eldest chicken died last weekend, and I cried and cried. She was such a fab chicken. These animals mean a lot to our family, and especially to our sons.” The Isle of Wight Council has declined to comment while the investigation is ongoing.
