An aggressive rooster got a little more than he bargained for after attacking a young girl.
While the child initially reacted with terror after the farmyard fowl made a beeline for her and began furiously flapping at her legs outside her rural home in the U.S., she was quickly able to turn the tables.
As a result, the rooster was left nursing a sore head and soon made a quick exit, much to the delight of those watching the encounter in a video shared to social media.
The clash was captured on a Bing security camera at an unidentified farm, with the resulting footage shared to TikTok by flyingsfarms, where it has amassed a staggering 43 million views.
While not every rooster behaves aggressively, Chris Lesley, a farmer who has been raising chickens for over 20 years and is a fourth-generation chicken keeper, said it's important to "be alert at all times" around them.
She explained to Chickens & More that an aggressive rooster will always strike when "your guard is down" but there are steps you can take to combat it.
Lesley notes that if the rooster runs behind you and stops short to stare at you they are "issuing a challenge" and it's crucial to turn and face the animal while making sure not to "break eye contact."
"If he spreads his wings and lowers his head, do the same and continue staring," she said. If he is a smart rooster then he will back down. He will drop his wings and start plucking at grass…Walk away slowly and cautiously, remember they love sneak attacks."
However, if as in the video he flies at you, then the advice is to "stand still" and "do not wave your arms" or "run." When he drops to the ground, Lesley states it's important to quickly "pick him up and tuck him under your arm."
"Talk to him softly to calm him down, offer some hand treats to show you are his friend. You should start to feel him relax after a while," she adds. Once relaxed, the advice is to put the rooster on the ground and slowly walk away.
But while that might work for some, the speed of the rooster's attack gave the girl in the video little time to think.
After letting out a scream at the fast-flapping bird, the girl opted to swing her school bag at the rooster. She landed an immediate hit on the aggressive fowl, who beat a hasty retreat. "Mom!" the girl could be heard to say as she headed inside.
Though the young child's reaction flew in the face of the expert advice, it was the source of some praise and amusement on social media.
"Don't think she needed mom," Ben Fisher-30 wrote. "Looks like she took care of business." Kaysie Pridham commented: "If you don't know how scary being chased by a rooster is, count your blessings. Ya did good kiddo, came out alive."
"She flattened it," Missy Harwood said, with tomurasfav agreeing: "Bro got humbled with that backpack." Xxshortie_x_animexx thought the rooster was probably "questioning his life after that smack" while zuzu_adventures imagined he was likely "holding in tears."
Maoriboyonahorse, meanwhile, was left stunned at how the rooster "went splat then popped back to normal" with saddvalentine speculating that the bird made a quick exit to "think about what it did."
Newsweek has contacted flyingsfarms for comment.
