Ah Lui, the beloved world-famous rooster with one testicle, is dead. He was three years old.
The cause of death was not immediately known. Pam, the Lamma Island resident who adopted him just over two months ago, suspected he died from a snake bite last week.
'He died in Pam's arms. Pam found a bite wound in one of his wings,' said a friend and fellow islander. 'He came in and landed on the mat. He tried to lift his head, drank some water ... Pam tried to nurse him for several hours. It was sad, very sad, to watch your pet die, knowing there was nothing you could do.'
The Post first reported the tragic story last month of Ah Lui and his original owner, a 61-year-old widow who bought him for $25 at a wet market after her husband died, and shared the same bed with him for 21/2 years.
Though she also kept three ducks and two hens, Ah Lui was always her favourite. 'He was more loyal than a dog,' she said. 'Whenever I called him from the living room, he would come out from the kitchen saying 'coo-coo'. I am particularly fond of the rooster because he listened to me.'
In April, the elderly woman was forced to give away the rooster - which she described as being 'like a son' - because of complaints about his crowing at her Chai Wan public housing estate. A botched castration operation to stop its crowing left him with one testicle.