OVIEDO, Fla. — The Oviedo community is mourning the loss of its most well-known rooster.
Fred the rooster met his “untimely death” Sunday night at the hands of “night critters that were just too many and too strong to fight off,” according to his owner Emma Reichert.
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Fred was a community staple roaming the parking lot and greeting customers at Reichert’s My Oviedo Store.
“He was more than just another Oviedo chicken,” Reichert said in a Facebook post memorializing the rooster.
Reichert is hosting a memorial service for Fred on Sunday at 4 p.m. at My Oviedo Store, located at 50 Smith Street.
“Come celebrate the life and impact that Fred made on our community,” she said. “Share stories and pictures of his life, while mourning his passing.”
Fred previously made headlines in 2021 after surveillance footage captured a man chasing the chicken and capturing it before driving away, resulting in a police report marking the bird as stolen.
Investigators said they traced the man’s license plate and traveled to his Casselberry home to notify him of the video and that Reichert was willing to not press charges so long as the rooster was safely returned.
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Police said the man admitted to taking the bird home because he feared a passing driver would run over it. Investigators put Fred in the back of a police cruiser and returned him to Reichert.
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