A rooster's cock-a-doodle-do is nature's way of waking us up bright and early to start the day.

But residents throughout South Florida -- where roosters are raised for everything from religious rituals to cockfighting -- wish nature's alarm clock would cock-a-doodle-don't.

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Watch: Rounding Up The Chickens (See Inside)

Local 10's Andrea Brody lives in a quiet neighborhood where people are feeling somewhat henpecked by a rooster who insists on waking everyone up long before the crack of dawn -- 7 days a week.

"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 Brody's neighbor Chuck Paros.

Local 10's cameras caught up with the poultry perpetrator. Area residents said a family who lived in the area bought it as a chick. They flew the coop, but left the rooster behind.

So Brody called in a trapper who is famous for catching 12-foot alligators to see if he could help.

Traps were set.

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

Brody then embarked on a chicken-busting mission 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 the Magic City. And each new dawn brings a reminder that things are getting worse.

Coincidentally -- or not -- 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.

For Brody and her family, the pre-dawn hours are finally quiet.

But for an estimated 30,000 South Floridians, the early wake-up calls continue.