A prison got rid of its cockerel after inmates moaned that its crowing was waking them up too early.
Prisoners at HMP Stafford complained that the rooster made too much of a racket at sunrise.
The birds often start crowing before dawn – and are known to begin as early as 4am in summer.
A source said: “The noise was driving them mad. A string of complaints were made.”
The jail has 700 inmates – and half are aged 50 or over.
As well as manicured gardens it has a paddock containing two pygmy goats, called Stan and Olly, beehives – and previously had hens. But when the rowdy rooster was brought in, the complaints soon began.
A cockerel’s crowing can reach as loud as 90 decibels – which is about the same volume as a lawn mower.
The goats, hens and cockerel were all listed as part of the jail’s “outside environment” in a 2020 report.
But the most recent account from prison watchdog, the Independent Monitoring Board, reveals just the goats remain.
One visitor to the site, a prisoner’s partner said the cockerel had not lasted long “for very obvious reasons”.
Our jail source said inmates, kept in cells for up to 23 hours during lockdown, valued their “beauty sleep” and hated getting up if they did not have to.
He said: “If you’re going to be in a cell for 23 hours without time out for exercise, work, education or association, you might as well sleep as long as you can.
“But if a cockerel is crowing away from the crack of dawn you’re not going to get much kip.”
The source added: “I’m not sure if the cockerel was fobbed off elsewhere or ended up in the pot. But he wasn’t there long.”
