Nuns pray for a cockerel threatened with the chop

Tyneside residents are hoping that divine intervention will save a noisy cockerel from being "evicted".

Council estate tenants in Henderson Avenue, Gateshead have been told Basil the "Whickham wandering cockerel" must go as they cannot keep livestock.

Local nuns were supporting the bird, whose early morning crowing drew complaints, owner Joyce Callaghan said.


Photo from here.

Her sister Mary, a nun at a convent in Gosforth in Newcastle, told her family that prayers had been offered.

Gateshead Housing Company said as livestock Basil could not be kept under existing tenancy agreements.

Well-wishers are continuing to call at her house with messages of good luck and the bird has more that 1,300 friends on his Facebook page from all over the world. Fans have also written to Buckingham Palace asking the Queen to back their campaign. The cockerel has until 21 October before being evicted from his Whickham home.