Police cited a St. Petersburg man who apparently chased and fatally shot a neighbor's rooster, then threw the bird in a creek.

Eric Nicastro, 33, took a BB gun and went after the young, auburn cock according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. He later switched to a handgun and chased the rooster into a neighbor's yard.

After shots were fired, a neighbor said she heard Nicastro say: "I got him!"

Witnesses called authorities. Deputies who responded to the scene saw Nicastro toting a gun. He was cited for improper exhibition of a firearm and was given a warning for trespassing.

Update 1/1/09:  Was the rooster a pet or a pest? Roaming a neighborhood just north of St. Petersburg, it crowed at dawn, charming some residents who felt they were living in the country. Related Links:

But Eric Nicastro didn't see it that way. Deputies say he shot the rooster one Saturday morning in April. Prosecutors charged him with animal cruelty.

Lucas Fleming represents Nicastro, who was charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty and improper discharge of a firearm in the rooster death.

When the prosecution offered his client a plea of 180 days in jail, Fleming scoffed.

Fleming thought the deal showed skewed priorities, comparing it to the punishment that Nick Bollea received for reckless driving in the Clearwater crash that left his friend severely injured for life. "Our position was, why should he get the same jail sentence that Nick Bollea got almost killing somebody?" Fleming asked.

Reference:

The St. Petersburg Ledger