One day after NBC 5 aired a story about a heartbroken couple looking for their rooster, someone dropped a rooster off at Arlington Animal Services.
It appeared someone lured their pet rooster away from their front porch and then stole him.
Ann Gaines and Steve Wilkerson never intended to welcome a rooster into their South Arlington home. It just sort of happened after he showed up at a relative's house back in January.
"It was pretty beat up," said Wilkerson. "It looked like he'd been used for fighting. We felt bad for him, so we took him home."
For the past eight months, they've fed the rooster and given it shelter and love. They even named it "Booster" after one of their favorite comic book characters.
Booster quickly became part of their family, which is why they're devastated he's now missing.
"I'm still in a state of shock where I'm looking for him and expecting to hear him crow," said Gaines. "And it's sad because you just hear silence."
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At about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, shortly after Wilkerson left for work, Gaines noticed a man on the front porch, but at the time she didn't think much of him.
"At first, I assumed nothing was wrong. It was just somebody putting an advertisement or something on the door," said Gaines.
Moments later, she heard a loud, shrill noise that sounded like it came from Booster, who at the time was perched on the front porch.
Because she's physically disabled, it took her some time to get to the front door and out onto the porch. By that time, Booster was gone.
"It's kind of shattered my faith in humanity, as silly as it sounds," said Gaines. "It's a pet. And it's like part of my heart is gone now."
When Wilkerson got home, he noticed a trail of corn pellets coming down his walkway as if someone had tried to lure Booster out into the yard.
They fear whoever took him may try to use him for fighting.
"He's used to being coddled. He's used to being fed and having his own routine," said Wilkerson. "Now I don't know what's going to happen to him."
They filed a report with the Arlington Police Department but weren't able to provide them with a lot of information about the incident.
A day later someone dropped a rooters off at Animal Services.
"I ran down there, filled out the paperwork and was able to reclaim Booster," said Wilkerson.
That night the couple was reunited with Booster, but learned Arlington doesn't allow roosters to be kept as pets, so they will try to find Booster a good home.
