Stanley Park's stray rooster struts to fame in bird boots

Ricky the mysterious rooster just showed up one day in Vancouver's Stanley Park.

Since then he's strutted his way into park staff's hearts.

He hangs out near the horse barn, and members of the Vancouver Policemounted unit are familiar with hishigh-stepping antics.

Recently, he was outfitted by park staff with some handmade Birdy Booties to help relieve his pain from a conditioncalled bumblefoot, an inflammatory condition and perhaps a little arthritis, say his caretakerswho were relieved the beloved bird did not have cancer.

"He loves his booties ... I think I'm anthropomorphizinga bit but when he first got them he ran around the yard. I think he was trying to show them off." said Sheena Urquhart, an apprentice horticulturalist.

When Ricky is in the mood he will hop up on a bench and march across laps.

"He's a total lap rooster," said Urquhart.

Ricky is not the first rooster abandoned at the park over the years.

But he's the first with hisown Instagram account (@Ricky_the_Chicky) and a lot of ardent fans.

"He's our mascot," saidBrian Quinn, manager of Destination Parks.

Nobody knows why Ricky was left in the park, but Quinn suspects it's because of his gender.

Female chickens never show up strayjust roostersperhaps dropped by people whohave chickensand don't want the rooster fertilizing the eggs, he said.

For whatever reason, Ricky ended up alone in a lush park paradise.

"I've actually only seen him run by.I just have a real blurry picture of him running, " said KrystalKobelkawho often works in the barn.

"He just showed up one day. He was kind of in the forest and everyone could hear him. So they just scooped him up and made a little pen for him to kind of keep him safe," she said.

Ricky hangs out with the gardeners the most, standing "in their little circle" in the mornings, she said.

He's a fixture, foot swellings and all.