Herald newsroom turns to rooster for help!

Tributes to the Herald's "newsroom rooster" are growing. Photo taken late Thursday afternoon. (click to enlarge)

UPDATED AT 5:10pm

Still no word on newsroom layoffs or buyouts at the Miami Herald a day after a top McClatchy executive visited and met with Herald brass.

However it appears that some in the newsroom can't wait any longer for word from the executive suite.

They've turned to a higher authority for help.

A newsroom source reports that someone has left a large life-size replica of a rooster on a counter in the fifth floor newsroom that's visible to all who enter from a bank of elevators. My source says from 20 feet away the bird looks very real.

A sign attached to the rooster reads: "Brought in by a Santeria priest (the real deal from Hialeah) to help save our jobs. Leave an offering."

As of 5pm, the counter on which the 20-inch tall colorful rooster stands was littered with an assortment of tributes including coins of all denominations, two wrapped cigars, a half-smoked hand-rolled cigar from Little Havana, a tiny plastic doll with a sign that says: "Feed the niños," a Virgin de Guadalupe candle and what appears to be a plastic "dashboard Jesus."

There's no humor like newsroom gallows humor.

Good luck to all at the Herald.