Giant metal roosters have begun appearing on lawns in and around a southern Maine community — and even as far away as New Zealand — in support of a 6-year-old autistic girl who loves the colorful sculptures.

David and Sara LeBlanc had maintained a rotating display of the roughly 6-foot-tall, or 1.8-meter-tall, ornaments on the lawn of their home in Ogunquit, Maine. Town officials in the small coastal community later determined that the statues amounted to impermissible advertising for the couple’s attached restaurant, The Omelette Factory.

The LeBlancs initially resisted the town’s order to remove the roosters, saying the display was intended to comfort their daughter, Pyper, rather than promote their business.

“Roosters don’t lay eggs,” David LeBlanc told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The family eventually reached an agreement with the town that allowed them to keep two roosters in front of their home. The question of what would happen to the rest of the collection was answered by friends, neighbors and strangers who stepped in to help.

The LeBlancs first took in Pyper as a foster child and later adopted her. Her parents said she arrived with a stuffed rooster, and roosters became her favorite animal. Last year, when David LeBlanc took her to a Tractor Supply Store to play with baby chicks, she saw a large rooster sculpture for sale and asked what it was saying.

“I think he wants to come home,” David LeBlanc said he told her.

Over time, the family’s collection expanded to more than two dozen roosters, which they arranged in batches for seasonal and holiday displays. Pyper began hiding behind one each morning while waiting for the school bus, a routine her parents said helps her regulate her emotions and manage transitions.

The dispute intensified after the couple added a rooster to the logo for The Omelette Factory, which also appears on shirts and other merchandise. The LeBlancs said they considered the rooster a “family crest,” but the town treated the lawn statues as advertising. The disagreement put a familiar local-government question in sharper relief: when a decorative object is visible from the street and associated with a business, officials may treat it as signage, while residents may view the same object as personal expression or, in this case, part of a child’s daily support routine.

Tyler McOsker, a code enforcement officer, issued the LeBlancs $450 in fines and ordered them in April to “remove all unpermitted signage, including but not limited to rooster statues.”

McOsker did not respond to an email seeking comment. However, he told the Zoning Board of Appeals in June that he had not known the roosters were connected to Pyper’s autism diagnosis until the family appealed the fines. He also cited a May 2025 article in a local weekly newspaper that described the roosters as a “fun and unconventional way to announce that The Omelette Factory is officially open for business.”

“That, to me, is the definition of a sign. You’re announcing you’re opening,” McOsker told the board.

David LeBlanc said the reporter had misunderstood a customer’s joke that the roosters functioned as an “Open” sign.

“We never said that,” he said.

The zoning board considered the matter last month. During the discussion, board member Jay Smith expressed frustration over the absence of medical documentation showing that the roosters were necessary.

“I’m inclined to think there may be some merit to a comfort animal on the front lawn … but the point is, how many does it take?” he said.

Autism spectrum disorder is a complex developmental condition that affects people in different ways. Beverley Cush Evans, a professor of special education at Lesley University, told the AP that comfort objects are often incorporated into therapy for autistic children to help with transitions, support emotional regulation and provide familiarity.

“It’s part of who they are and what they need,” she said.

The board ultimately concluded that it did not have authority to rescind the fines, but sought to accommodate the family by granting a disability variance. The variance effectively deemed two roosters necessary for Pyper’s access to the home.

“I want to emphasize we’re talking about two roosters. If they have babies or multiply in the night — no,” another board member said.

The variance requires the roosters to be incorporated into a railing, but for now, the statues are only bolted to the steps. The couple has received an additional $500 fine for noncompliance.

David LeBlanc said he is moving on from the dispute and focusing instead on the positive response it has generated. The family has given roosters to others to “foster” as a show of support for autism acceptance, beginning with a man named Sam who lives nearby. Although Pyper was sad to see some of the roosters leave, LeBlanc said she understands the saying about making lemonade from lemons.

“She understands that the roosters being taken away were the lemons, and Sam and his friends, fostering them, are the lemonade,” he said. “It’s a beautiful thing.”

News coverage and a Roosters of Ogunquit Facebook page have helped spread the story widely. One supporter wrote from New Zealand and shared photographs of his children with a rooster statue in their yard.

Hetal Patel, who owns a motel in nearby Wells and has a relative with autism, said she wanted to buy a rooster after hearing about Pyper. The statues were sold out in the Ogunquit area, so Patel and her son drove to New Hampshire last week to find one.

“We found the last one,” she said. “We couldn’t wait to put it out. People were so supportive, they were honking. It was so nice to see all the love for Pyper.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.