© 2024 WLRN
MIAMI | SOUTH FLORIDA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Saved From A Santería Priest, Rescue Rooster Terrorizes A Miami Neighborhood

Linda Robertson

There are rescue dogs, saved from abusive owners and placed in loving homes. Then there is Payo. He is a rescue rooster. He was doomed to die in a Santería ceremony.

Just as his neck was to be slit, Payo’s adoptive family swooped in. They persuaded the priest to sacrifice another animal. They brought Payo home and set him free in the back yard.

And this is where the sweet story of the pet rooster ends. Because sleep-deprived neighbors don’t call the big white bird with the blood red eyes by his nickname. They call him El terrorista. The terrorist.

“Alfred Hitchcock could make a scary movie about him,” said Michael Demarziani, co-owner of Rincon Argentino restaurant, where Payo struts up to outdoor diners, sticks out his beak and demands food. “That is one rogue rooster. I swear he’s got fangs. I told my customers that one of these days we’re going to serve fried chicken.”

Payo lives in Miami's Silver Bluff West neighborhood. But he’s not a reticent rooster. He likes to crow — very early and very loudly, as roosters are wont to do. He attacks dogs, cats and even people whom he considers threats to his territory.

Read more from our news partner, The Miami Herald

More On This Topic