has anyone had luck proving your chickens are pets at a hearing in Riverside ca?

[Kim M]

Hi, I live in Riverside, ca and my zone is R1. I just had code enforcement give me 10 days to get rid of my chickens due to a complaint from the neighbor behind me. I am wondering if anyone has had any luck proving their chickens are domestic pets. Clearly mine are as my kids hold, feed, and visit daily with them. They put their artwork up on their fence, and it is part of our daily choirs and home school to care for them. I'm wondering if it is worth the effort or if it is a lost cause. Thanks so much for you help

 

[chooks4life]

Hello and

Who has to prove that a domesticated or tame animal is a pet? And how?

Are there any specific rules for defining a pet by anything other than species?

By such standards, if an animal must be proven to be a pet as judged by its behavior/reactions to humans, many dogs and cats are not pets since they're unfriendly even to their owners or most family members, or just aloof.

Do you have any specific code you're trying to comply with here, i.e. rules utilized in discerning livestock from pet based on what? If it's as simple as ticking the boxes so to speak you should win but most regulations simply decide some species are pets and some are not, and that's that, or they have ridiculous regulations as regarding keeping the animal, i.e. in Australia in Queensland you can legally keep five or more large horses in the space you are required to have for a single sheep. Priorities, and financial incentives.

I hope you succeed, here, certainly enough people are in the same boat as you are and working hard to change the rules. If they are responsibly kept I don't see how they're any worse than responsibly kept dogs, cats, or whatever. You can catch diseases/parasites etc from all of them, it's not like chooks are extra dangerous.

The biggest obstacle is public perception, as your neighbor is likely being illustrative of; many people will let their dog poop on others' lawns, let their cats urinate in others' areas, and still feel that chooks are degrading the tone or value of the neighborhood.

There's ignorant and strong prejudice against them with little in the way of facts supporting the stance against chooks. Public awareness of how quiet, clean, and non-stinky they and their living quarters can be would help. As always it's those who fail to attain and sustain such standards who give the rest a bad name, but hey, that hasn't gotten dogs or cats banned from suburbia, has it?

You could try a community petition, or something similar, it has worked for some. In some areas some breeds are classed as pets or cage birds, i.e. in Australia in some places Silkies (even roosters) are/were able to be kept in suburbia because they were classed as cage birds... Though I don't know if that still stands, it's old info now.

Best wishes.

 

[BYC4RiversideCa]

Hi Kim. I just found out my property is 300sqft short of me legally owning chickens. I have a large backyard and don't understand how LA allows chicken but Riverside that has more open land has limits. I'm interested in getting support to change the ordinance. Are you interested?