- Nov 17, 2014
- 21
- 2
- 24
Hello everyone! My name is Shannon and I am currently residing in the city of Massillon, Ohio. Just to be specific I am in the city limits. I have dreamed of having chickens for years and when I bought my first home in 2014 I knew that my dream was now a possibility. I have almost 2 acres of land and live extremely close to the border of other townships and the next county, meaning, there are cows and farms not even a mile away from me. Before I bought my chickens or built a coop I made sure to do as much research as I could to make sure that chickens were in fact legal in the city of Massillon. I started off by looking at the Massillon city webpage, countless google searches and finally called the different city departments just to make sure! One of the departments I called was the health department. I spoke to a woman and asked to make sure that chickens were legal, she seemed to me as though she had no idea so I took it as a good sign that, well,if it was illegal they would be able to tell me right off the bat. After all this research I determined that they must be ok to have, especially since I have almost 2 acres. I bought my first adorable chickens in the beginning of March this year. They were the cutest and so enjoyable just to play with and marvel at how fast they grew and how each one had such a different personality. Meanwhile by boyfriend and his father started working on the coop. They put a lot of time and effort into building my chickies future home and it turned out wonderful! The chicken coop was now built, we fenced in a large part of the yard so our chickens could explore and enjoy all the land we had to offer.Now this is when the story turns sour. On Friday (8/7/15) I received a bright orange "Official Notice" flyer hanging from my front door knob. I knew this couldn't be good. Stated on it was I was under violation for raising chickens in the city of Massillon. What?!?!? I couldn't believe it. I called the office immediately but could only leave a voicemail. After a very long depressing and stressful weekend of worrying about my poor little chickens I received a call on Monday explaining why I received the notice. The gentleman told me that chickens were in fact illegal in the city and gave me the city ordinance (that I could not find anywhere beforehand) 505.01
505.01 DOGS, CATS AND OTHER ANIMALS RUNNING AT LARGE.
(a) No person being the owner or having charge of cattle, sheep, geese, ducks, turkeys, chickens or other fowl or animals shall permit them to run at large upon any public place, or upon any enclosed lands, with the exception of Agricultural Zoned areas or upon the premises of another.
Now if this has been around since 1985 why would the health department not have told me that in the first place? Why is it almost no where to be found online unless you know the exact number? After reading this I was completely devastated. But I thought to myself, no, no I'm not going to get rid of my chickens. I've raised them since they were just a couple days old, they depend on me, they give me happiness and are just a joy to come home to everyday! Even my large dogs spend time with them in the fence. I knew I had to fight for my chickies! And that's exactly what I'm doing!! I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to speak to anyone that lives in the city of Massillon and has chickens or had chickens at one point while they lived in the city. Please help me fight for my chickens! Even if you don't live here I would love to have support! Feel free to contact me on here or even email me!
Also, just to help prove my point a little more and so you can see for yourself-Go to Google and search "are chickens allowed in Massillon Ohio" You'll be just as surprised as I was!
I hope to hear from you!! Thank you for taking the time to read my story!!
Shannon Butera
[email protected]
505.01 DOGS, CATS AND OTHER ANIMALS RUNNING AT LARGE.
(a) No person being the owner or having charge of cattle, sheep, geese, ducks, turkeys, chickens or other fowl or animals shall permit them to run at large upon any public place, or upon any enclosed lands, with the exception of Agricultural Zoned areas or upon the premises of another.
Now if this has been around since 1985 why would the health department not have told me that in the first place? Why is it almost no where to be found online unless you know the exact number? After reading this I was completely devastated. But I thought to myself, no, no I'm not going to get rid of my chickens. I've raised them since they were just a couple days old, they depend on me, they give me happiness and are just a joy to come home to everyday! Even my large dogs spend time with them in the fence. I knew I had to fight for my chickies! And that's exactly what I'm doing!! I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to speak to anyone that lives in the city of Massillon and has chickens or had chickens at one point while they lived in the city. Please help me fight for my chickens! Even if you don't live here I would love to have support! Feel free to contact me on here or even email me!
Also, just to help prove my point a little more and so you can see for yourself-Go to Google and search "are chickens allowed in Massillon Ohio" You'll be just as surprised as I was!
I hope to hear from you!! Thank you for taking the time to read my story!!
Shannon Butera
[email protected]
