Animal Control - SILKIES, pigs, and goats :/ Twentynine Palms, California

[JPandaBear]

I live in a residential area here in 29 Palms and my dad loves animals. He has gotten 2 pigs and 2 goats 2-3 months ago and I got a 2 silkie chickens from my cousin for me and my twin sister's birthday in September. Everything's been fine, but since the past few weeks, our goats have been very loud... And it was only until today that an Animal Control guy visited our house. Our whole family have been attached to our animals and it was very disappointing that someone reported us that got notification from the city council/hall. The guy said that we had to get rid of ALL our animals in 30 days... including the silkies ( I really despised that he said that... :/) because just 3 weeks ago, I bought 4 more chick silkies. I understand that we don't live in a horse property... but we have a big backyard. And I also understand that our pigs and goats have to go as well. I'm sad about it.. and my dad said we would just have to butcher our 2 pigs and the male goat.. for food :/. But not the female goat because she's pregnant. So we're giving her away. I considered all the animals we had as pets. I don't care if they're labeled as "farm animals" or "poultry". I love all the animals we have, and I know there's no exception for the goats and pigs because we live in a residential area, but I don't see why we can't AT LEAST keep our silkies. They don't make a lot of noise, except for the adult male rooster :/. But my white adult female silkie doesn't make a lot of noise (she's quieter than a dog for goodness sake lol), and the silkie chicks don't cocka-doodle-do. They make little chirps (I guess until they grow up). We have 30 days from today, 12/19/14, to get rid of all of our animals. I would like to know if there's still a way to keep our silkies, ty.

 

[chooks4life]

Greetings and

You'd need to check into the local council regulations or whatever that apply to your area. You may have some wriggle room, or be able to petition to change the rules, but probably not before having to get rid of them all. Who knows? If you move quickly and are lucky you may find your way through this in time. You should be able to look up the local laws on the internet.

Sorry to hear of your situation and your neighbor not having the decency to be upfront with you about being irritated, to give you a chance to fix the issue... But plenty of people really cannot tolerate what they perceive as 'dirty' or 'noisy' livestock in the immediate vicinity of their homes, even while they keep nonstop yard-and-noise-polluters (dogs) and spraying, caterwauling wildlife killers (cats).

(I like dogs and cats just fine, don't really consider my life complete without them, but at no point are they little cleanly angels compared to any other species we tend to keep as pets or livestock. Just being realistic... We are at risk of disease from them as well but some people just consider livestock and pets in two separate, immutable categories, though technically throughout most of history cats and dogs were basically livestock as well. You can find something to loathe about any species even if you love them, it's just a shame when people are short-sighted enough to overlook their own pet's irritating points to condemn irritating points of another species due to poorly thought-out (or not at all thought out) stereotypes and prejudices).

A lot depends on your backyard space. The pig is pushing your luck almost no matter where you live these days due to biosecurity concerns in many regions, though if classed as a pet you may get around that. In some places Silkies are considered cage birds, not poultry or livestock, so you may be able to see if that applies to your area. As for the goats, well, I'm not aware of any great movements to get them classed as suburbia-allowed pets, so good luck with that. Noisy ones are big trouble all on their own, probably more trouble than you can wrangle your way out of.

Adding your country and state to your user profile helps a heck of a lot with so many questions and topics. Edit: yes, I did notice you added it to the thread title, that was just for future reference.

Good luck and best wishes.