Video provided by HSU student Allen Burgess. Order of footage edited at the Outpost’s descretion.
Humboldt State student Allen Burgess was confused when he opened a text from his friend at 1 a.m. reading “cockadoodledoo.”
Six hours later, it all made sense when Burgess’ professor pointed out the rooster roaming his geospatial concepts class in Founders Hall today.
“Some student was playing a prank,” Burgess told the Outpost via Facebook. “It was great, I’m still laughing.”
Professor Mary Beth Cunha held most of her students outside while University Police Officer Delmar Tompkins spent about 10 minutes trying to corner the rooster. Luckily, Burgess arrived to class early and shared his hilarious video footage with the Outpost.
Tompkins said the bird was captured and is now resting safely in the wildlife and fisheries game pen on campus.
“They provided it with food, shelter and water,” Tompkins told the Outpost. “We’re working on finding someone to take him. We’ve already had a number of people on campus volunteered to take him or find a home for him.”
Tompkins said this is the only time in recent memory that a UPD officer has had to chase an animal around a classroom.
“This is a first for me,” Tompkins laughed. “It wasn’t too bad, there were a lot of helpful students in class who assisted. No one got hurt and the rooster was fine. It was more comical than anything else.”