The Star: July 29, 2021

• By Samantha Mythen
TONY THE rooster’s bid
to rule the roost in a quiet
neighbourhood has come to an
end.
Tony, described as “pretty
vicious looking”, appeared in
Jeremy McTear’s backyard in
Heathcote last week.
“He was rather
large and confident,
and very
quickly made
himself at home,
digging up the
lawn and hiding
in the bushes,”
McTear said.
“He was all
feather, talons
and large beak with a bright red
comb.”
The McTear family’s “guard
dog”, Ziggy, who likes to
patrol the garden, was out
of action recovering from
surgery, allowing Tony took full
advantage of the situation.
Over the next few days, Mc-
Tear and his sons, Oliver, Jamie
and Leon, attempted to catch
Tony.
But he was quite the escape
artist, managing to evade their
clutches and fly over a fence to
terrorise their neighbour.
“He was incredibly quick and
able to escape through gaps that
seemed impossibly small,” said
McTear.
“An hour or two later, he’d appear
at the door or window and
taunt us or the dog. Sometimes
he’d just sit in the neighbour’s
gutter and glare.”
Ziggy eventually took an interest,
wandering over to see what
all the fuss was about. When he
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Less than half the average rainfall this month
CHRISTCHURCH has so
far had less than half its usual
rainfall for July with 25mm.
The latest MetService data
also shows the city has had
145 hours of sunshine, slightly
above its average of 129 hours,
this month.
Westport was more than
likely the wettest place in the
Family crowing after
finally bagging Tony
Jeremy
McTear
country this month. But forecasters
can’t say for sure because
the rain gauge broke during the
recent flooding event.
Hokitika has had a whopping
315.6mm of rain so far in July,
up from the month’s average of
233.2mm.
Wellington has had 79 per
cent more rain than average so
far this month, with 175.3mm,
while Auckland had 87mm,
compared to an average of
117mm.
New Plymouth continues to
be the sunniest spot in New
Zealand with 1479 sunshine
hours so far this year, 149 of
which were this month.
The place with the least
sunshine this month was
Taumarunui, which had 98
hours.
The least sunniest place so
far this year was Gisborne.
While its sunshine hours have
been about average for July, it
has been much cloudier than
normal, with only 993 total
sunshine hours recorded.
saw Tony, Ziggy would chicken
out from his guard duties.
A post on the community
Facebook page failed to trace
Tony’s owner. The McTear back-
TEAM EFFORT: Ziggy the
“guard dog” was out of
action after surgery when
Tony arrived. Above – Oliver,
Jamie and Leon captured
the rooster.
yard had become his new home.
Each morning last week, Tony
woke up the family and neighbours
at 5.20am.
Finally, Tony was captured
on Thursday, after McTear, his
wife Tina and three sons, armed
themselves with blankets, fishing
nets, bread and a cat carry
cage.
“It was a team effort,” McTear
said.
Tony was despatched to the
SPCA, where he is being put up
for adoption.
“Staff said he was quite
grumpy on arrival,” said McTear.
He said his sons asked for KFC
on the way home.
“We didn’t have a problem
with that,” he said.
“On Friday we all had a great
sleep in.”
Thursday July 29 2021 The Star
NEWS 3
in brief
New classrooms for
Hillmorton High
An upgrade to Hillmorton
High School will make it one of
the fastest growing schools in
Christchurch. Wigram MP and
Housing Minister Megan Woods
yesterday announced four
shovel ready projects will be fast
tracked and 17 new classrooms
will be created at six schools
and kura across the Canterbury,
West Coast and Tasman regions.
The projects include five shortterm
roll growth classrooms
at Hillmorton High School
to meet the growing demand
for schooling in the area.
The school’s roll will grow by
more than 100 when the new
classrooms have been completed.
More houses
being built in city
An analysis of building
consents in Christchurch
shows the city gained 2792
new dwellings over the past 12
months. That was a 12 per cent
increase on the previous year
and the highest annual housing
gain in the city since 2000. The
housing gain is calculated by
taking into account the number
of new houses built and the
number of houses removed or
demolished. Most of the new
homes were built in the southwest
of the city, particularly
Halswell. Prestons and Yaldhurst
also experienced large increases.
Museum gets consent
for redevelopment
Canterbury Museum has
resource consent to proceed with
a proposed multi-million dollar
redevelopment of its Rolleston
Ave premises. The consent was
granted by the city council
on Monday after a hearing in
June. The museum’s proposed
redevelopment is estimated to
cost about $195 million, but
it is still $70 million short.
Museum representatives are
talking to possible funders and
have developed a business case
to seek Government funding.
Director Anthony Wright said
the proposed redevelopment is
critical to the museum’s ability
to remain open at its current site.
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