Barberton, Ohio. They are trying to make me get rid of my bantam chickens. They say according to Barberton city laws, they are non domesticated.

[BluePolish5]

What can I do to fight this? Can they make me get rid of them?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Chickens, all chickens, are gallus gallus domesticus - its in the name!

Seriously, it comes down to the definition of "domestic animal" in the code. In most places, chickens and other poultry are considered livestock, not domestic animals.

...and because I'm on a cell phone, I can't get your code to load, so that I might look on your behalf. You want to keyword search for chickens, fowl, poultry, avians, etc and start picking out the key passages.

 

[BluePolish5]

Chickens, all chickens, are gallus gallus domesticus - its in the name!

Seriously, it comes down to the definition of "domestic animal" in the code. In most places, chickens and other poultry are considered livestock, not domestic animals.

...and because I'm on a cell phone, I can't get your code to load, so that I might look on your behalf. You want to keyword search for chickens, fowl, poultry, avians, etc and start picking out the key passages.

That’s what I told the lady it’s literally in their scientific name! She had no real argument except that the city just says so

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Government writes the laws. In doing so, they are free to define words (and often do) in ways which defy explanation.

If I offered you the current Federal Definition of "Lynching", you might likely recognize it as something criminal, but calling the offense "Lynching" would not be any of your top ten guesses unless you are particularly well informed.

...and lest we forget, the Supreme Court got involved, very early on, in deciding whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable - which mattered for tax purposes.

 

[saysfaa]

Barberton codified ordinances use a lot of references to definitions of the state of Ohio. So this may help you:

https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-administrative-code/rule-901:1-17-02

K) "Domestic animal" includes livestock; other animals that through long association with humans have been bred to a degree resulting in genetic changes affecting the temperament, color, conformation, or other attributes of the species to an extent that makes them different from nondomestic animals of their kind, and other animals as defined by rule by the director.
...
(R) "Nondomestic animal" means any animal that is not domestic, including at least nonindigenous animals and animals usually not in captivity.
...
(V) "Poultry" means any domesticated fowl kept in confinement, except for doves and pigeons, that are bred for the primary purpose of producing eggs or meat for human consumption. The term includes chickens, turkeys, waterfowl and game birds.

 

[saysfaa]

Cross reference the above with
https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/barberton/latest/barberton_oh/0-0-0-6202#JD_618.03
"§ 618.01 DOGS AND OTHER ANIMALS RUNNING AT LARGE.
(A) No person, who is the owner or keeper of horses, mules, cattle, bison, sheep, goats, swine, llamas, alpacas or poultry, shall permit them to run at large in the public road, highway, street, lane or alley, or upon unenclosed land, or cause the animals to be herded, kept or detained for the purpose of grazing on premises other than those owned or lawfully occupied by the owner or keeper of the animals.
...
§ 618.02 ABANDONING ANIMALS.

(A) No owner or keeper of a dog, cat or other domestic animal shall abandon the animal."

Hm, I recommend you read the next sections. There are some pretty specific details (like when, where, how food can be left out; fencing). And be sure to be following those before getting into the current question.

I didn't find city specific definitions for domesticated or non domesticated. But the text references previous versions and state laws that I can't easily see on my phone... it is tedious but they are public record so you can look them up. I suggest not stopping when you think you found it; laws tend to overlap quite a lot.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

^^^ This. Code (and LAW) needs to be read as a whole, you can't pick sentences out from the body and assume it means what you think it says, as other portions of the code may define, redefine, expand or foreclose possible interpretations.

 

[BluePolish5]

Government writes the laws. In doing so, they are free to define words (and often do) in ways which defy explanation.

If I offered you the current Federal Definition of "Lynching", you might likely recognize it as something criminal, but calling the offense "Lynching" would not be any of your top ten guesses unless you are particularly well informed.

...and lest we forget, the Supreme Court got involved, very early on, in deciding whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable - which mattered for tax purposes.

What good arguments could I bring to a board meeting?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

What good arguments could I bring to a board meeting?

At this point? Call on the history of the US and the tradition of "Victory Gardens", point out the chaos and disruption that's come from COVID in food distribution, reference every surrounding city that allows chickens - point out that its not negatively impacted property values (and thus, tax base). Find some realtors willing to say they have (or had) clients for whom the capacity tomaintain a small backyard flock was a consideration in their property selection, and to point out that these were affluent, well qualified potential homeowners with "vanity flocks" of very attractive hens whose purpose was only incidentally egg production...

Basically, tell the city they are at a competitive disadvantage in restricting chicken ownership, and that any image they might have in their mind of an ignorant country hick in threadbare overalls with a loudly crowing roo in the front yard ('til Sunday dinner, anyways) is an ugly stereotype of a long bygone era.

 

[DParker75089]

If you can, ask them which city ordinance(s) they're basing their assertion on and post the answer here.