Mattapoisett Rooster Wins Battle Against Hungry Hawk

MATTAPOISETT (WBSM) — When a hawk decides to go for a chicken dinner, it usually doesn’t turn out well for the chicken.

However, one Mattapoisett rooster stood his ground and lived to fight another day.

“Usually it does not end well when dealing with a hawk attack,” said the rooster’s owner, Mattapoisett Select Board member Tyler Macallister. “Unfortunately, I’m usually picking up a corpse.”

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Macallister has kept chickens for 15 years, and said they’re definitely “at the bottom of the food chain” when it comes to the wildlife in the area.

“A rooster is good at sounding the alarm, good at picking up the presence of a predator, and they’ll sound off especially when hawks are nearby,” he said. “Unfortunately, all of our roosters have succumbed to some sort of predator attack, if not a hawk then a fox or a raccoon.”

Macallister lost a rooster about two months ago, and then got another one to replace it. Once again, a hawk came around, but this time his new rooster did something different than all the others.

“I was in Rhode Island, but my wife witnessed it,” he said. “She said the hawk was kind of trapped in the netting we have, and instead of running away and hiding under the coop, this rooster pursued the hawk until it escaped and took off.”

The rooster was not harmed at all, but the hawk likely suffered from wounded pride.

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The Macallisters hadn’t yet named their new rooster, but after seeing him fight so valiantly against the hungry hawk, his name was decided.

“We named him Leonidas after the warrior in (the movie) 300,” Macallister said, noting they call him “Leo” for short.

Leonidas is also Greek for “son of a lion,” and a lion will beat a hawk any day.

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