From the Smithfield Times (in Virginia):
The Grace Street chickens remain under threat after Smithfield town attorney Bill Riddick issued one chicken owner a March deadline to get rid of her chickens or face potential legal action.
When the letter was sent, Grace Street resident Sarah Gilliam still had two chickens left after sending the rest of her brood, which included a green and gold rooster, to friends.
[“]The two remaining chickens were in the midst of sitting on their eggs and I didn’t want to disturb them,[“] Gilliam said.
Last fall, Gilliam and her neighbor Rea Epps, were deemed in violation of a town ordinance against livestock, after neighbor Donna Stoessner complained to the town about Gilliam’s chickens eating her plants.
Epps, 86, lives next to Gilliam and has kept chickens in town for over 12 years.
“They’re my pets,” she said, admitting that in the past, one or two chickens have flown the coop for a stroll along Main Street.
Despite a loophole in the town code that failed to include poultry as livestock, the town took a firm stance against the chickens and stuck with it — the chickens must go.
Gilliam refused, and has declared her chickens “companion animals,” and therefore not subject to the town ordinance, which is based on the Virginia state code. . . .
Gilliam sees the changing codes as a potential battle for the town. She is running for a town council slot in the May election, and said that many residents and friends have urged her to make the chicken issue one of her platforms.
“If forced to, I will take my chicken to court on a leash,” she said. . . .When asked if chickens are still living on Grace Street, [Bill Hopkins, the town director of planning, engineering and public works] replied, “I don’t do chicken patrol very often.”
Thanks to Becky Dale for the pointer.
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