MIAMI -- Roosters on the loose in South Florida have been giving some residents what they call grating, early morning wake-up calls, WPLG-TV reported.

"Our kids are in college now. We're empty-nesters. Little did we know we'd have a rooster that happened to be nesting in a tree outside our bedroom window," said Chuck Paros about a rooster that crows every day before the crack of dawn.

Area residents said a family that lived in the area bought it as a chick. They flew the coop, but left the rooster behind.

WPLG-TV reporter Andrea Brody, who is also Paros' neighbor, teamed up with a trapper famous for catching 12-foot alligators to see if they could catch the fowl.

On the first day, the trapper caught a possum. On the second, he caught a raccoon. On the third day, he quit.

Brody then embarked on a new chicken roundup with an expert who used to head Chicken Busters, a city-run program that is credited with rounding up 14,000 chickens. Last October, the program was cut and the problem multiplied.

Experts estimate there are tens of thousands of chickens and roosters in Miami.

Last week, Brody was nearly hit by a van with the words "Duck and Chicken Removal Service" written on it. She saw it as a sign and flagged it down so it could take care of the rogue rooster.

Now, for Brody and her neighbors, the pre-dawn hours are finally quiet.