Troy Michigan Backyard Farmer told to Find Humane Housing for his chickens and ducks by 7PM July 14t

[Mustaq Varish]

Troy Michigan Court findings of this afternoon's case about...city of Troy vs. Mr. Donovan. Basically the judge decided that since Mr. Donovan was not a licensed business at the time the violation of the city ordinance was issued, he would not be able to use the M.R.T.F.A. as a defense. The judge did however state that had he been in compliance with all aspects of the R.T.F.A. that the city prosecutor would NOT have been able to bring charges against him. In other words, it sure sounded like the Judge still believed the "old" version of GAAMPS applied or that at least the current version of GAAMPS did not permit the city to prohibit compliant small farmers. Linda and I met with Mr. Donovan after the case was decided just before he did an interview for Detroit TV station WDIV (channel 4). He was given until 7PM on July 14 to find humane "housing" for his chickens and ducks. Although Mr. Donovan states he is NOW a registered business, he has not determined if he wants to "reacquire" his animals and challenge the city again and try to use R.T.F.A. in his defense. Apparently he has his own FB page and will post more about this there.