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?)
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?)
5 comments:
They're up to $75 today - peacocks that is. Your post must have triggered a buying frenzy.
Did you actually buy a peacock?
I have a hard time believing that your landlord takes issue with a German Shepherd but will be OK with a peacock. I think you might be reselling that thing on kijiji pretty quickly.
However, if you didn't actually buy a peacock and still want a chicken, first, consider how much chicken shit reeks and consider the fact that you'll need to build a chicken coupe that is raccoon proof (yep, they murder chickens). Then, if you still want a chicken, I'll help you start a petition for the City of London.
No, really.
PS - Can't believe you saw that there was a legal bird called a "bulbul" but still went for the peacock.
PPS - In the interest of political correctness, I think this post should be retitled "Pets and why the city of London has a developmental disability."
RJ,
Thanks for the comment!
TO clarify, no i didn't buy a peacock and you are right $75 is the price, but I saw OBO and was going to offer $60, I can't imagine the demand to be high, so I figure that is fair.
Additionally, even though I would like a walking bird of some sort, I can not proceed with this until I have a found a better home for chelsea.
Chicken shit is smelly, in large quantities, a single chicken really isnt that bad. Many of the fancy breeds can actually be trained to use litter boxes which is cool. Also, raccoons are no match for the Giant Jersey chicken variety I had in mind. these things are huge and attach other animals.
Lastly, a coupe would be useful for throughout the day when I am gone, but the chicken would definitely be an inside chicken when I am home so that we can play games and chase each other, and roost while watching TV.
I just find it ridiculous that I am legally entitled to own 40 pigeons, pretty much a flock, and not 1 chicken.
The Bulbul looks retarded, cock on the rocks sounded awesome and looks pretty cool too.
But I will keep you informed if I do proceed any farther.
ALSO, did you notice that weasels are not permitted, but you can have ferrets??? again more idiocy.
Also, if you scroll down to the bottom of the bylaw thing, take note of the mayor who signed off on it. ;)
Jonathan I couldn`t read all the bylaws, but I get it
Are you really giving away chelsea? how responsible
don`t buy a peacock!!!
ps. read my lastest blog, i killed my computer i think. it must ahve been a virus, i was downloading things without antivirus...whooops
I live in Boston and own an indoor chicken. She's a serama the smallest breed of chicken in the world.
I uploaded a video to YouTube so I can show the world what great pets chickens make.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQJ3OosskVM
I even started a web site called indoorchickens.com
Get a serama or a frizzled polish bantam if you like the fancy chickens.
They make wonderful pets. And if your chicken is living indoors who has to know.
The frizzled polish bantam doesn't even look like a chicken.
Good Luck
Jill
Know I'm coming a little late to your discussion, but the topic of animal control urgently needs more attention. Londoners need to know the bylaws are under review. With enough support they can be changed. See "Let's Change London's Bylaw of How Many Pets We Can Have" on Facebook. Some meetings with the city have already taken place.
Donna writes: "Did you know that the way our bylaw is worded, it is the same crime and the same punishment to have one extra loved pet as it is to torture one?"
A link to the petition can be found on that page too.
Calgary has animal control bylaws that make sense & are being copied by many other cities. Their system is not funded by tax dollars. Their bylaws have resulted in a huge decrease in dog bite cases without banning "pit bulls.
Here's one of the article trying to get the word out:
"Let's Clone Calgary's Animal Control"
http://animals.change.org/blog/view/lets_clone_calgarys_animal_control
Chris
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