Help! Our ordinance is being voted on Tuesday, help us counter these arguments

[aschm01]

Quote: LOL... yep.

 

[bruceha2000]

Really bummed we aren't getting an update as to how the meeting went and if chickens are now allowed.

Bruce

 

[joestahl]

So sorry, I typed out a whole long update and got pulled away from the computer and I guess it never got sent. The vote didn't happen because amendments were made due to this one man's objections. The vote is now tonight. Here is an article explaining the whole situation. http://mind.gmnews.com/node/73939

 

[joestahl]

The ordinance passed tonight, unanimously!

 

[kstaven]

It's movement in the right direction. Congratulations.

 

[CluckyCharms]

AWESOME news; congratulations. I'm feeling like giving the antagonist this face

 

[Fluffnpuff]

AWESOME news; congratulations. I'm feeling like giving the antagonist this face

The antagonist probably went home started shaking and said "Gamer over man. Game over" over and over again. Control freaks tend to have emotional break downs when they fail.

 

[joestahl]

True, he is a bit of a coward. He's tough until someone stands up to him. I'm just worried, because his buddy got up and was asking questions about who complaints should be directed to, whether the police should be called, etc. I don't think this is over, even though we've won this round. I'm waiting for the bogus noise complaints, or to say they smell, or something.

 

[Fluffnpuff]

True, he is a bit of a coward. He's tough until someone stands up to him. I'm just worried, because his buddy got up and was asking questions about who complaints should be directed to, whether the police should be called, etc. I don't think this is over, even though we've won this round. I'm waiting for the bogus noise complaints, or to say they smell, or something.

I agree. Get prepared for calls claiming a 50 pound rooster broke down his door, shredded his couch, and ate his dog.

 

[tandemrx]

My favorite rebuttal to the salmonella comments also comes directly from the CDC. If you go to the salmonella outbreak page they list "selected" outbreaks from this and past years. If you click on each out break it lists the number of cases. Again, these are "selected" outbreaks because salmonella outbreaks are so common from so many sources.

I like this page because it does list backyard chickens as a source of salmonella outbreaks, but it is in the context of the massive number of other outbreaks from other food and animal sources. What I did was print the selected outbreaks page out and copied down the number of infected individuals from all the selected outbreaks - when you can show that there are more infections related to frogs than chickens it kind of brings this into perspective.

And it is easy to point out the 2010 shell egg outbreak of thousands of individuals who got Salmonella infection from eggs from grocery stores. One can make a reasonable argument that since your backyard chicken eggs are produced by healthier chickens and the eggs are much fresher (grocery eggs are often at least a week old when you buy them) that they pose no greater and possibly lesser risk of salmonella.

http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/outbreaks.html

Also, I think the UW Wisconsin Cooperative Extension document on Urban Poultry has great wording on most all disease issues and I recommend you buy copies of this document and provide it to City Council representatives. http://learningstore.uwex.edu/Poultry-in-Urban-Areas-P1463.aspx

Quote:
The Urban Poultry document is really a great publication for those advocating for backyard chickens.

I also like to comment that Salmonella is found in the gastrointestinal tract of nearly every vertebrate animal on the planet. It is not unique to chickens in any way and that is why so many food outbreaks occur from so many sources and why we have those signs that workers must wash their hands before they go back to work in bathrooms in restaurants - it isn't because we have chickens in bathrooms in restaurants!!