Kerala: He gave up his ‘jumbo’ idea to foster roosters

KOCHI

: Feeding and caring for a pet are one of the most exciting activities for children. For Navaneeth P, a Malappuram native and Class XI student, owning an elephant as a pet was a dream since childhood but as it was unaffordable he looked for a ‘suitable’ alternative.

However, he was not ready to settle for a dog or cat or even a parrot or lovebird, like most boys do, as a pet. Instead, he chose to pet

roosters

and has been doing it for the last five years.

The latest among his pets is two-year-old Sivaram, a white leghorn breed rooster, whom he bought at the age of two months. Recently, he bought a hen named

Bella

as a pair for Sivaram and he has trained the birds to do many things like obeying his commands, riding with him on bicycle, jumping flying to his hands whenever he asks etc.

The videos of Navaneeth training the birds and rearing them are doing rounds in social media.

Navaneeth’s father

Shinod Kumar

P, an employee of Malabar Devaswom Board, said that the boy treats the rooster as elephant. He named the rooster Sivaram, a name common among captive elephants, and built a separate shed for him. He gives him a bathe once every week and after that sandal paste would be worn on his face like mahouts do on tuskers. Sivaram is a one-master rooster, similar to single-master dog breeds and obeys only Navaneeth. The rooster even attacks all others in the family, including Shinod.

“It was never a plan to

rear roosters

as a pet but somehow it happened. It was difficult to train it and I made my own training methods by referring to dog and cat trainers’ videos from YouTube. I am now trying to give toilet training to Sivaram and Bella,” Navaneeth said.

He said roosters too are loyal and intelligent pets and people should not hesitate to pet them. “After seeing the videos many told me they were amazed to see how well-trained Sivaram is. I even give some training tips to them as they said roosters at their house are a nuisance for them. I also have a beagle dog as a pet but Sivaram is special,” the boy said.


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