Do you think the following Ordinance is cruel and unusual? Basically it says if you have a couple chickens, that they can jail you for for up to 60 days.

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS (added 10/16/12) The state only granted the city the ability to impound and sell the animals, for the penalty of any ordinance, and the costs and expenses of the proceedings this is spelled out on page 2 of this thread.

Please answer honestly.


Municipal Ordinance

No person shall keep horses, goats, cows, chickens, sheep, mules, ducks, geese, turkeys or similar farm animals on premises of less than two (2) acres. In no case shall such animal be kept or maintained within 75 feet of any dwelling occupied by any person other than the owner of such animals.

Whoever violates this section is shall be guilty of a minor misdemeanor upon a first offense; shall be guilty of a fourth degree misdemeanor upon a second offense within twelve months of the first offense; and shall be guilty of a third degree misdemeanor upon three or more offenses within twelve months of the first offense.

4th degree misdemeanor = up to 30 days in jail
3rd degree misdemeanor = up to 60 days in jail

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Move somewhere where the city lawmakers don't pass laws making THEM deserving of cruel punishment.

Obviously, this statute was drafted to address the boobs who try to operate a chicken coop 20 feet away from their neighbor's bedroom window. Not everyone appreciates the smell of such a coop, or the 5AM wake up call. As such boobs are notoriously resistant to heeding orders from zoning enforcement officers to close such annoyances down (because after all, it's a free country), laws with graduated penalties have to be enacted and enforced.

I think that your perspective would differ if you lived in a Brooklyn apartment, and your neighbor upstairs took in Mr. Ed as a roommate.

Where've you been? I haven't seen you wasting your time here. Don't tell me you have a real life. That just ain't right.

Enumclaw-area animal-sex case investigated

By Jennifer Sullivan


King County sheriff's detectives are investigating the owners of an Enumclaw-area farm after a Seattle man died from injuries sustained while having sex with a horse boarded on the property.

Investigators first learned of the farm after the man died at Enumclaw Community Hospital July 2. The county Medical Examiner's Office ruled that the death was accidental and the result of having sex with a horse.

A surveillance camera picked up the license plate of the car that dropped the man off at the hospital, which led detectives to the farm and other people involved, said sheriff's Sgt. John Urquhart.

Deputies don't believe a crime occurred because bestiality is not illegal in Washington state and the horse was uninjured, said Urquhart.

But because investigators found chickens, goats and sheep on the property, they are looking into whether animal cruelty — which is a crime — was committed by having sex with these smaller, weaker animals, he said.

The farm was talked about in Internet chat rooms as a destination for people looking to have sex with livestock, he said.

"A significant number of people, we believe, have likely visited this farm," said Urquhart.

The Humane Society of the United States intends to use the case during the next state legislative session as an example of why sex with animals should be outlawed in Washington, said Bob Reder, a Humane Society regional director in Seattle.

"This and a few other cases that we have will allow us a platform to talk about sex abuse of animals," Reder said.

Thirty-three states ban sex with animals, he said.

Susan Michaels, co-founder of local animal-rights organization Pasado's Safe Haven, said she has been fighting to have bestiality made illegal. "It's animal cruelty behind closed doors," Michaels said.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or

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That's a matter for the landlord and/or the condo board.

Good grief aklim this is not 4chan.

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I've been hanging out on another forum. you know how when your job is working with something, then you get off work, the last thing you want to do is that something again.

A cook doesn't want to come home to cook dinner, after cooking all day long,,,

I do pop in from time to time, but haven't typed all that many characters in this forum as of late.

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Our town (suburban Hartford) recently changed it's codes to allow for small-scale backyard critter raising for personal use. Previously they were pretty vague but as the hens for eggs movement took off, they decided they needed to address it (same for rabbits, we have a large Italian population).

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A better than average municipal definition of animal units. In lots of places there is no distinction made between a rabbit and a cow.
Eight hens would provide all the eggs a family needs and a small backyard coop can be kept clean and essentially odor free. Roosters are not necessary for egg production.

I don't necessarily agree with the law quoted, but the consequences are at least graduated.
If a community's opinion changes regarding urban livestock and there is a popular movement to allow such animals, laws can be changed. I've seen this happen in my own county.

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This was copied from a post years ago. HERE

It was about "horse play" and not the "Jerry Sandusky sort".

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Either way you are going to be *****ing since it is your opinion that nobody should have the right to dictate what goes on in your dwelling even if it affects them in some way, shape or form.

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While I don't exactly agree with the law, or the overall concept of not allowing limited numbers of animals to be kept within city limits, I can't exactly say that the law provides for "cruel and unusual" punishment. Jail time is hardly unusual as a means of punishment, nor I would it fall into the cruel catagory. Perhaps excessive, but 30 days as a possible maximun for a first offense? Doesn't seem that over the top, when you consider first offenses typically get significantly less than the maximum.

MV

Stupid punishment anyway. Roosters are noisy, chickens not so much. I know a couple in Oakland who have about 5 hens - have all the eggs they need and give some away. They know how the chickens are fed and treated, as opposed to buying eggs that come from bizarre factory. I'd like to do it myself.

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