What began as an ordinary Friday quickly turned into an unexpected rescue mission for the team at Edgar’s Mission, a farm sanctuary in Australia.
A concerned caller had been walking through the bush when they spotted what they believed to be a rooster and two hens wandering alone. The birds were unusually friendly — the rooster even approached as if asking for help. It was clear someone had abandoned them.
When local rangers declined to intervene, Edgar’s Mission didn’t hesitate.
“We dashed across [the] country to beat nightfall and the mouths of hungry foxes,” the sanctuary wrote in a Facebook post.
But once they arrived, rescuers discovered the situation had been misunderstood. Instead of one rooster and two hens, five underweight roosters were roaming around an abandoned pub.
The team sprang into action, weaving through bushes and enduring a few sharp pecks while successfully rounding up the first four birds. But the fifth rooster — later named Sir Francis Drake — was far more elusive.
In a final bid to escape, Sir Francis Drake slipped into the pub’s tight cellar, a space rescuers couldn’t safely enter or exit. Realizing he was truly stuck, they called for emergency services.
First responders arrived and lowered a ladder into the cramped crawl space, allowing rescuers to climb down and carefully retrieve the frightened rooster.
“Five roosters saved,” Edgar’s Mission wrote. “Five fragile lives spared.”
At last, the entire flock was safe.
Today, all five roosters are thriving at the sanctuary — no longer abandoned, no longer at risk, and finally surrounded by people who value them.
“That Friday, we didn’t just see five roosters,” the sanctuary shared. “We saw five lives, five stories … reminders of what we share. And that, perhaps, is the only story worth telling.”
To support rescues like this, donations can be made to Edgar’s Mission. You can also follow their ongoing stories on Facebook.
