Coalition of Animal Sanctuaries Urges Ban on Backyard Chickens

[RachelFromTheBlackLagoon]

Because it isn't banning. Did you even open the link? And I ABSOLUTELY believe there should be additional guidelines for all animals, not just chickens, because people are horribly cruel and don't care enough to provide appropriate space, housing, food, clean water, etc. Working in animal control, I am absolutely aware that there is not ENOUGH we can do to assure that animals are well cared for, especially livestock animals. The fact of the matter is, this isn't just a matter of property or your rights. These are actual living, breathing, feeling entities and it's about darn time somebody is stepping up to the plate to do something positive for them.

 

[AZKat]

But first, please read and consider the issues raised in our Position Statement and consider the reasons we give for encouraging your municipality to resist becoming zoned for chicken-keeping. If zoning is already in place, we urge your municipality to establish and enforce strict requirements designed to protect both the birds, and your community, from serious problems that will, quite predictably, otherwise result.

I quoted the entire section, just to make the discussion easier to follow. I can't figure out any meaning that 'resist becoming zoned for chicken-keeping' could possibly have other than 'if your city already has a ban encourage them to keep it', but perhaps I'm missing something. Also, they don't say what requirements they think should be put in place, but since the position paper strongly encourages people to adopt birds, and to make sure that the chicken will have access to veterinary care, I'd expect that the standards would be very high.

As a side note, the position paper in general, exaggerates the risks and difficulties of chicken keeping, and the abuses of the hatchery industry to a degree that makes getting chickens sound very unappealling, like when they say that even the cleanest coop attracts rodents or when they claim that sexing baby chicks is 80%-50% accurate. Both of these statements are, quite simply, untrue.

I also checked out the websites of the organizations involved in producing this policy statement, and several of them, notably The Animal Place and United Poultry concerns, are doing their best to equate hatcheries with factory farming, and to say that backyard birds will, inevitably be neglected and abused, and that the only solution to the problem of farm animals being mistreated is for everyone to go vegan. I'd also note that only one organization The Farm Sanctuary, had any information, or links to any information on humane chicken keeping, which strongly suggests to me that they think that backyard chicken keeping is part of the problem of inhumane treatment of farm animals, and not part of the solution.​

 

[RachelFromTheBlackLagoon]

Both UPC and CRR also have links to humane chicken keeping.

 

[AZKat]

Could you post the link please, as I spent some time searching on those sites and could not find anything about what they consider 'humane' chicken keeping, and I'm genuinely curious to see what they consider reasonable.

I did read the article that you linked in a earlier post, and I agree that it sounds reasonable, although I did note that it seems to be directed at sanctuaries and animal rescues, rather than people who are interested in keeping backyard birds, although of course most of the information would still apply. This link, by the way, comes from The Chicken Run Rescue website, which does have a lot of good information about chicken care, and runs classes to teach people about responsible urban chicken keeping. I would quibble a bit about the numbers they use for estimating the costs of chicken keeping, I'd be hard pressed to spend $400 a year on extra greens for my birds, and you can knock a zero off of their estimate on the price of coop construction, but over all the advice seems sensible. I don't have a problem with this, and I think that most of the people on this board agree that some regulations regarding the treatment of chickens is desirable, and that its important that chicken owners educate themselves about how to take proper care of their birds.

That said, I really do think that a number of the organizations who produced this document are interested in banning chicken keeping, or restricting it to the point that it is impossible for chickens to live anywhere other than animal sanctuaries. That is where my objection comes from. I also think that the picture they are painting of urban chicken keeping depends heavily on making it sound like the worst cases are the rule, rather than the sad exception. I don't deny that not all chicken owners, like dog owners, cat owner, fish owners and indeed, parents of human children are responsible, but I think that the answer is education, not adding further restrictions and continuing to ban chickens in areas that have bans.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

By and large I think most people take good care of their animals, regardless of what kind of animals they may have. Yes, there are a few people who do not, but saying that "people are horribly cruel and don't care enough to provide appropriate space, housing, food, clean water, etc. " implies that all, or even most or many, people are these things, and there is simply no data to support that contention.

Resisting efforts to allow backyard flocks is equivalent to saying "continue the ban." There is no other meaning to that phrase.

And then there is "If zoning is already in place, we urge your municipality to establish and enforce strict requirements designed to protect both the birds, and your community, from serious problems that will, quite predictably, otherwise result." [emphasis mine] So how do they explain cities that have allowed backyard poultry without strict guideline for many years and have none of these "predictable" serious problems?

 

[LadyHartman]

I agree, but I also think this is a luxury of plenty. I think when people get hungry, it gets easier. And I believe our hard economic times are just getting started. We have a long way to go before this mess completely unwinds, and people are going to have to do what most people have done throughout history: produce at least a portion of the food they eat.

I completely agree with this statement. We originally started with two chicks as pets for our Kids shortly after my husband lost his job last spring. We thought it would be a nice distraction during a bad time. Then we realized that if things get really, really bad (economically) we'd have the eggs as a food source and to sell if need be. Now, we have 19 hens of various breeds. All are pets with names. All eat a healthy diet, with lots of fresh veggies and fruits and all get lots of exercise out of the pen. I believe that it is our RIGHT and RESPONSIBILITY to provide for ourselves. We treat our birds well because 1.) it's the right thing to do 2.) we need them to be well.

There is no city council or activist group that has any business telling citizens they cannot provide for themselves. When the going gets really tough the tune will change.​

 

[ducks4you]

Quote:
AS USUAL, You continue to astonish me with your intelligence, WZ!!

You are right, of course--it's a political/"how much money can I make?" scam. If they truly cared about animals, they would start with those dog breeders that continue the 100 years+ inbreeding habit of mating father to daughter, etc., and whelp dogs that live out their lives in pain.
(see the BBC program, Pedigree Dogs Exposed,
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=44215931 )
The AKC makes too much money to encourage changes. I've ALWAYS thought that ALL of the top dog show winners be required to demonstrate athletic ability before being awarded a ribbon. (I am NOT criticizing every dog breeder on BYC--don't misunderstand me.)
Perhaps they should spend some time policing the Gaited Horse Industry that STILL allows TW showpeople to deliberately sore their horses' pasterns and frogs (on the bottom on the hoof) in order to produce animation in the show ring. THESE horses try to stand on their toes while not in the ring for some relief...if that's possible.
http://www.humanesociety.org/news/p..._of_tennessee_walking_horse_abuse_032309.html
http://forthetnwalkinghorse.blogspot.com/

Or, maybe we should demand people to neuter their cats when they've collected, like... 20 living in their homes?!?!?
http://cats.about.com/od/advocacy/a/catcollectors.htm
http://cats.about.com/b/2009/03/16/cat-collectors-ailurophilia-run-amok-2.htm

I believe that HERE we can communicate and use peer pressure to police our own. We do NOT need people who generally know little to NOTHING about the animals that they seek to save. They get "feel-good" hormones like the endorphins from exercise by "being involved."

I suggest that they get a prescription for Prozac. Maybe we could put it in their water for them...

 

[AZKat]

As a side note, I'm sort of curious to know what vegan run animal sanctuaries do with the eggs. I mean, even if most of the birds they have are geriatric ex-battery hens, they still have to be getting a large number of eggs.

 

[RachelFromTheBlackLagoon]

Quote:
The link that I previously posted, which you read, comes directly off of CRR and UPC's sites. It is not directed toward sanctuaries, and I believe it was originally written by Britton Clouse and CRR for the city of Minneapolis. It seems to me that people here are becoming rather defensive and only taking the bits and pieces of info from this that benefit their arguements. Everybody should do their own research. Take the time to look at these organizations' websites, acknowledge the work they do and email them before making these crazy blanket statements. If you look at all of it depth, there really isn't much to argue about.

Then again, It's pretty obvious that some people just get a big kick out of arguing and bashing others.


Where did anybody tell you that they are trying to make you get rid of your birds? Where is it written that they want you to stop eating your birds' eggs? NOWHERE. Again, people are confusing these organizations' personal lifestyles with what they are trying to accomplish. I don't believe the two have much to do with eachother. What I am getting from their statement is that it's not geared toward current chicken owners, but future ones. That is why they wrote the standards of care, that is why they offer classes and such. I wrote to a few of these organizations before I decided to get my own chickens and they were more than happy to offer information about proper care, etc. I'm sure they'd do the same for anybody. THERE is all of the education.

 

[RachelFromTheBlackLagoon]

Quote:
AS USUAL, You continue to astonish me with your intelligence, WZ!!

You are right, of course--it's a political/"how much money can I make?" scam. If they truly cared about animals, they would start with those dog breeders that continue the 100 years+ inbreeding habit of mating father to daughter, etc., and whelp dogs that live out their lives in pain.
(see the BBC program, Pedigree Dogs Exposed,
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=44215931 )
The AKC makes too much money to encourage changes. I've ALWAYS thought that ALL of the top dog show winners be required to demonstrate athletic ability before being awarded a ribbon. (I am NOT criticizing every dog breeder on BYC--don't misunderstand me.)
Perhaps they should spend some time policing the Gaited Horse Industry that STILL allows TW showpeople to deliberately sore their horses' pasterns and frogs (on the bottom on the hoof) in order to produce animation in the show ring. THESE horses try to stand on their toes while not in the ring for some relief...if that's possible.
http://www.humanesociety.org/news/p..._of_tennessee_walking_horse_abuse_032309.html
http://forthetnwalkinghorse.blogspot.com/

Or, maybe we should demand people to neuter their cats when they've collected, like... 20 living in their homes?!?!?
http://cats.about.com/od/advocacy/a/catcollectors.htm
http://cats.about.com/b/2009/03/16/cat-collectors-ailurophilia-run-amok-2.htm

I believe that HERE we can communicate and use peer pressure to police our own. We do NOT need people who generally know little to NOTHING about the animals that they seek to save. They get "feel-good" hormones like the endorphins from exercise by "being involved."

I suggest that they get a prescription for Prozac. Maybe we could put it in their water for them...

My best guess would be it's because these organizations are specifically poultry organizations. How does that mean they don't TRULY care for animals??