14 DAY TRIAL // A family from Milwaukee is still alive thanks to a chicken they brought in as a pet, and kept in their basement.
Their home caught on fire in the early morning, when they were still asleep. However, the bird alerted them to the danger they were facing.
According to All Voices, Wisconsin married couple Dennis Murawska and Susan Cotey were woken up at 6.15 a.m. by their new pet Cluck Cluck. The chicken, held in a cage, was clucking loudly enough for them to hear it.
"The chicken gets quite vocal when she gets excited," 52-year-old Cotey explains.
Although they had a smoke alarm installed, it failed to go off, so they had no idea their residence was burning. When Mrs. Cotey woke up to check on the animal, she noticed that their two cats were showing signs of distress as well, the Independent writes.
Murawska retrieved Cluck Cluck from a neighbor who had acquired it from a farm in Alma Center. He was going to cut it because it failed to produce eggs, when the couple asked to keep it as a house pet.
"I spent way more money than I ever should've. […] I guess it paid off," Murawska says.
The family was able to escape the flames unscathed and, surprisingly enough, so was Cluck Cluck. They found it alive in the basement, where one of the cats in the house was also hiding out. The other cat wasn't as lucky.
"We are used to hearing about a dog or cat or something, but we never heard of a chicken waking up a resident for a fire. That's pretty amazing," Alma Center Fire Chief Jeff Gaede describes.
The fire brigade explained that the flames started in the garage loft. The couple was lucky to get out, as most of the house burnt down.