15 January 2010

Pets and why the city of London is Retarded

 I found myself looking at pets today that I could keep and found myself once again, looking at pet chickens. not the gross barn yard ones, but the fancy kind.

Polish Chamoise Chicken

I called London Animal control to ask whether or not chickens are allowed...

"Hi, I don't know if you are the right person to ask, but Im calling to find out what pets are legal to own in the city."
"Ok, what type of pet were you inquiring about"
"Fancy breeds of chickens"
"No, sorry, Chickens arent allowed as pets within the city"
"Oh, but parrots are?"
"Yes, they are, as well as budgies and cockatiels, those types of birds"
"Well fancy chickens are pretty like those birds"
"Sorry sir, chickens aren't allowed" -- now I hear laughing in the background
"Ok, so what about peacocks, they are like halfway between chickens and parrots"
"No sorry, peacocks arent allowed"
"Hmm... what about quails"
She covers the phones and asks someone about quails "No sorry sir, Quails are just like chickens, so no."
"They are a lot smaller though, and could be caged easily"
"No sorry sir, even if you cage a chicken (she means quail), it doesnt matter. Only caged birds like Parrots or budgies are allowed"
"So as far as birds are concerned, thats all I can have"
"Yes sir."
"Hmm Do you have a list online I could peruse to see all the types I AM allowed?"
"Uhh, if you go to the city website, and look up health bylaw #4, it should have it"
"Oh Ok, thanks, I'll check it out."

With out further ado, here is a link to the bylaw stuff:

Now to save you from having to figure it all out, here is what I will call the highlights.

Part 2
CLASSES OF ANIMALS
2.1 Animals - ranked by class
Animals shall be ranked according to the classes set out in this Part of this by-law.
2.2 Class 1 animal
"Class 1 animal" shall mean cow, donkey, goat, horse, mule, pig (swine) of all species including
hybrids, pony and sheep.
2.3 Class 2 animal
"Class 2 animal" shall mean chicken, goose, turkey, duck and any domestic fowl.
2.4 Class 3 animal
"Class 3 animal" shall mean homing, pouter, racing or tumbler pigeons.
2.5 Class 4 animal
"Class 4 animal" shall mean domestic cat, guinea pig, gerbil, hamster, mouse, rat, rabbit,
chinchilla, ferret and turtle.
2.6 Class 5 animal
"Class 5 animal" shall mean non-venomous snakes, non-venomous lizards and non-venomous
spiders.
2.7 Class 6 animal
"Class 6 animal" shall mean domestic cardinals, finches, budgies, bulbuls, canaries, tanagers,
amazons, cockatoos, conures, macaws, parakeets, cockatiels, loorikeets, touracos, toucans,
orioles, mynahs, magpies, barbets, arcaris, pied hornbells and cock-of-the-rocks.
2.8 Class 7 animals
"Class 7 animals" shall mean any animal of a type that is normally found in a wild and natural
state, whether or not it has been bred and/or raised in captivity and includes but is not limited to
bear, wolf, coyote, crocodile, alligator, bobcat, lynx, mountain lion, cougar, tiger, lion, monkey,
fox, skunk, kangaroo, eagle, hawk, elephant, weasel, racoon, venomous lizard, venomous
snake, venomous spider, all birds the keeping of which is prohibited in the Migratory Birds
Convention Act, S.C. 1985, C.M-7, and regulations thereto and all animals the keeping of which
is prohibited in the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1997 and regulations thereto.

Please note the Bolded animal in section 2.7 "Cock of the Rocks" Here is a picture:

Why is this bird on the ok list!? Its native to Machu Picchu!

Now here are the laws.

Part 4
PROHIBITED MATTERS

4.1 Animals - keeping - more than 2 per dwelling
No person shall keep more than two animals in a dwelling unit or on any premises.
4.2 Class 1 - keeping - within City
No person shall keep a class 1 animal within the municipal boundaries of the City of London.
4.3 Class 2 - keeping - within City
No person shall keep a class 2 animal within the municipal boundaries of the City of London.
4.4 Class 3 - keeping - more than 40 - during winter
No person shall keep more than 40 banded class 3 animals between October of one year and
March of the following year.
4.5 Class 3 - keeping - more than 60 - during summer
No person shall keep more than 60 banded class 3 animals between April and October of any
year.
4.6 Class 3 - keeping - more than 2 - unbanded - any time
No person shall keep more than 2 unbanded class 3 animals at any time.
4.7 Class 3 - flights - unsupervised
No person shall fail to supervise the flight of class 3 animals.
4.8 Class 3 - flights - 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. - summer
No person shall fail to prohibit class 3 animals from flight between 9:00 o'clock a.m. and 5:00
o'clock p.m. during the period from April 1 to September 30.
4.9 Class 3 - flights - 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. - winter
No person shall fail to prohibit class 3 animals from flight between 10:00 o'clock a.m. and 3:00
o'clock p.m. during the period from October 1 to March 31.
4.10 Class 7 - keeping - within City
No person shall keep a class 7 animal within the municipal boundaries of the City of London.
4.11 Animal - running at large
No person shall permit any animal to run at large.
4.12 Trespassing - by animal
No person shall permit any animal to trespass on any property.
4.13 Food - storage - failure to use rodent-proof container
No person shall fail to keep feed or animal food in a rodent-proof container.
4.14 Keeping - animal - not permitted by statute
Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this by-law, no person shall keep any animal, the
keeping of which is not permitted under any statute of Ontario or Canada.


So to recap...
No house can have more than 2 pets. Nearly every person I know in london is in violation of this bylaw, again, ridiculous.

All pet food must be kept in rodent proof containers?

And the most ridiculous  - You can only have 40 pigeons in the winter... but in the summer 60 is ok. BUT you cant let them out between 9-5 in the summer (wth?)