Hardware chain Bunnings has made a definitive ruling on pets in its stores, after a wave of complaints about a trolley-riding rooster.

Bunnings has proudly welcomed dogs for a long time and has become an unlikely destination for Aussie shoppers toting their pets.

While canine family members are most commonly seen at the big green sheds, there’s no shortage of sights of cats, sheep, chickens and even an alpaca.

But the extra crowds in the aisles aren’t universally popular.

“If you don’t take your pet to a supermarket, then why would you take your pet to Bunnings? Makes no sense,” one Facebook user wrote this week.

The debate ignited against this week after Townsville woman Fiona Muxlow posted a snap of her eight-year-old rooster, Mardi, sitting in a Bunnings trolley. Muxlow said Mardi was calm, people-focused and thrived on attention.

“I often have the Bunnings staff come up and say, ‘Can we take a photo?’,” she told Yahoo Lifestyle.

“When he’s out in public, he’s like, ‘Yep, I am the centre of attention. You can pat me if you want … I will take chest pats from everyone’.”

Mardi the rooster also gets out and about on other errands. Photo: Facebook/Fiona Muxlow

But not everyone was charmed, with the photos sparking a flurry of complaints online about the Bunnings policy.

“I avoid Bunnings for this reason, and pick my time to go – which is normally late on a Sunday afternoon. Seems to be the most painless time to go for down here,” one poster wrote.

Another said pets should be banned entirely.

“In what right mind, does someone think that bringing dogs in any shop is OK? Service dogs are different,” they said.

Of course, there’s also the ultimate complaint:

“Who cleans up mess if [a pet] poos or pees in Bunnings? Like all animals they can get spooked by different things. I feel for [the] animal,” a social media user wrote.

But there was also widespread support for the policy. It has even sparked the Instagram account “Dogs at Bunnings”, which has more than 20,000 followers.

And it doesn’t just stop at dogs. Melbourne trade salesman Justin Dyson is a self-proclaimed “proud cat dad” who used to take his cat, Jessica Alba Rabbit, “everywhere” with him when she was a kitten.

That includes Bunnings, where Dyson told Yahoo Lifestyle that there were always plenty of people happy to see a cat.

“The best reaction was always to her name. Bunnings staff absolutely loved having her there, and plenty of elderly and young children loved to pat her,” he said.

“The only weird looks were surely from seeing a guy dressed in trade clothes pushing around a trolley with a cat.”

In Canberra and parts of NSW, meanwhile, local alpaca identity Hephner is a regular feature at various Bunnings warehouses to help raise money for good causes.

Regional NSW resident Mel Tovey also regularly takes her sheep, Cotton Wool, to shop for hardware. Cotton Wool is a pet therapy animal and enjoys attention, travel and new experiences.

“I find it makes the Bunnings staff and other customers happy to see animals,” Tovey said.

This week Bunnings moved to rule a line under the debate, once and for all. A spokesperson told Yahoo Lifestyle that pets of all shapes and sizes were allowed in stores as long as they followed the rules.

“We’ve been welcoming pets into our stores for many years, and that includes the occasional feathered friend,” the spokesperson said.

They said staff could refuse entry or ask a customer to leave if an animal was aggressive, disruptive or not under control.

As to the inevitable occasional clean-up? Owners are responsible for that when it happens.