New San Diego County Oridnance On Number of Roosters

[BowmansBirds]

Hey Everyone,

I'm new to the forum but not new to birds. I actually run a non-profit dog rescue and am a canine behaviorist. My husband and I also rescue chickens, roosters, pheasants, quail and other game birds from San Diego shelters and re-home them. We also are hobby breeders and breed both Old English and Bantam Silkies.

We currently located out in Valley Center where right now there are few restrictions or compalints on how many chickens/roosters we're allowed to have. However, San Diego County Animal Services wants to change that. A bill was passed before the Board of Supervisors a few days ago that will limit the number of roosters a San Diego County Resident is allowed to have to eliminate "cock fighting". This new ordinance would effectively wipe out ALL hobby breeders of ALL breeds of chickens who live on anything under 5 acres.

I'm putting together a group of people that are opposed to this new ordinance to both speak at the next Board of Supervisor's meeting on Sept. 13th in hopes of stopping this new ordinance. I'll be speaking at the local San Diego Game Bird Breeders meeting tonight and passing out information on what we can do to stop this ordinance.

Check out the San Diego Uninon Tribune's article on the topic:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/aug/01/san-diego-looking-curb-cockfighting/

If you'd like more information or to join our group please contact me at [email protected]

Thank you!

 

[Denninmi]

I'm sorry, but that seems to be a typical response -- punish the responsible many for the crimes of the irresponsible few. Reminds me of the way some cities in Florida have banned the sale of spray paint at hardware stores due to gang graffiti. Geesh, I hope you can successfully convince them that this is another dumb idea, that cock fighting is already illegal (I assume) and this will just drive it underground while depriving many upstanding citizens of their rightful property and their ability to responsibly own and breed chickens.

Good luck.

 

[BowmansBirds]

Quote:
My sentiments EXACTLY! Thank you for your support! Please spread the word, if it passes in a major city like San Diego, who knows where it will go next. The more support we get even if not from San Diego Residents the better. You can email the Board of Supervisors showing your support at:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

Thank you!

 

[cindylo]

I agree with the last poster that the newly proposed rules to limit rooster numbers won't do what the county intends. I own several game pullets and they are beautiful birds with sweet personalities. (My town forbits owning any roosters, buth that's another story.) I wish you well on your appeal. The rule will just hert the backyard chicken folks, not the cockfighters. Those folks with fighting roos will just move their birds inside.

 

[mrsbrcant]

This is crazy! My daughter is in 4H and raises OEG bantams for show and these little guys are definitely not bred for fighting. With this rule it would be the end of the project. These are tiny little ornamental birds and definitely not for fighting. You are right, it would put an end to hobby breeders who breed for exhibition.

 

[dretd]

BowmansBirds

Jeesh. I hate this sort of thing going on. They don't want to enforce the laws on the books because its too expensive so they will just outlaw every cock to stop a few problem folks. I guess this is the down side to tightening the government's budgets--if they don't have the $ to do a good job, they will ruin everybody's party cuz its cheaper.

By that logic we should outlaw all sports cars cuz they might be used for drag racing, or outlaw all pain medication cuz some people sell them or kids abuse them at Pharm parties, or maybe we should do away with park benches because too many homeless loiter there or outlaw certain breeds of dogs cuz they might bite--wait they already have done that....

There are so many alternatives to banning roosters, someone just thought this was the easiest, cheapest thing to do but it is just one more example of our freedoms being sucked away. I hope you can band together some folks that can fight this thing. Bring up all of the wholesome things that can come of chicken raising all the 4H angles and such. And isn't this law against the right to farm laws? Shouldn't people be grandfathered in? Shouldn't you be able to register your flock or get permitted to get an exemption or something? I would be inclined to call my representative (state and local) and get fighting mad about it!

I wish you the best of luck. So goes California, so goes the other states. You are fighting the good fight for all of us chicken-lovers!

 

[mrsbrcant]

Ok, I just sent off email letters the each of the county supervisors from the perspective of the 4-H project. I first heard of this ban yesterday at the Ramona Junior Fair poultry show where my daughter had 5 cocks entered. I am just curious, what do they intend to do with all of these males they want to ban? I am trying to picture animal control coming around to confiscate a child's showmanship bird. Most of the kids that do poultry showmanship use males because they pose and walk better so if a family has three kids in the poultry project, even if they are not breeders but just have one male bird per kid, they would be breaking the law. And if a child wants to attempt to breed and hatches a batch of eggs and half are males what do they expect the kid to do with all of these illegal males? They can't raise them to show, I guess they can only show hens now. I suppose they will have to eat them or try to sell them to someone in another county. Imagine the amount of meat you would get from a modern game bantam or a sebright. It just doesn't make sense.

 

[RHRanch]

This will ruin my hobby business - we need to make a show of force at any meetings. We need to network and get people worried about this.

I have 2.25 acres in the county and at least 30-50 roos and cockerels i am growing out for various breeding projects.

 

[mrsbrcant]

I just received a phone call from one of the emails I sent out. Adam Kaye from supervisor Pam Slater-Price's office called me and also sent me an email and this is what he said:

"By way of clarification, the ordinance states that restrictions upon the keeping of roosters 'shall not apply to commercial poultry ranches the primary purpose of which is to produce eggs or meat for sale for human consumption, approved 4H or Future Farmers of America (FFA) projects, public or private schools, County-operated animal shelters or other animal-welfare organizations that employ humane officers as described in Corporations Code 14502.'"

So this means that 4H and FFA is ok. I explained to him that a big part of 4H was the partnership between adults and youth and that the adult hobby breeder that might not be officially affiliated with 4H is still an important resource for our program. I also had him look up serama's as an example of a bird that is clearly not used for fighting that might be affected by this ban as written. He stated that they had not heard the concerns of the hobby breeders at the meeting when the ordinance was approved. I said this was probably because nobody was aware of it but they would hearing from the hobbyists soon.

 

[RHRanch]

Quote:
All well and good for 4-H and FFA - but what about non-commercial hobbyists, which most of us on BYC are? When is the next meeting? We need to show up and address this with the lawmakers.