Legal issues? Animal control?

[Susie570]

I saw this thread on another forum and it made me wonder why it's there. Do people have issues with 'animal control' regarding rabbits? The article is about selling puppes, but I guess it applies to rabbits as well. It's a little concerning. I keep my rabbits indoors (for now), but they are in a public location. Should I be concerned?

http://s4.zetaboards.com/Rabbit_Addict/topic/9006019/1/#post-8926612

 

[ladysown]

yes, legal issues apply to rabbits as well.

Numbers, odours, cleanliness etc. It's important to know the rules of the area you live in. Don't exceed the numbers or if you do, have a cull list so you know who you can get rid of quickly should they come a-calling.

 

[Susie570]

Is this usually a State or a County thing? Do you know?

 

[grumpy]

Depending upon your size....it can be an FDA thing..and that ain't fun.

 

[Susie570]

Depending upon your size....it can be an FDA thing..and that ain't fun.

I don't think I would have enough rabbits for the FDA to get involved. I'm trying to reach our County Extension Ag office to find out where I can find the laws on keeping rabbits in my town, county or whatever level the laws would be. They don't appear to be online.

 

[Zass]

Out local human society has the city animal ordinances posted on it's webpage.

 

[Susie570]

Out local human society has the city animal ordinances posted on it's webpage.

Good idea but ours doesn't have anything except 'available pets' and contact info

 

[Zass]

Do you have a courthouse?

 

[akane]

My city has a blanket ordinance of keeping animals outside in winter. They have to have a solid floor raised off the ground as at least part of their shelter. Otherwise I found nothing on animal numbers or anything that applied to small animals specifically. You can only have so many cubic feet of chicken manure compost but it only covers chickens.

 

[sunrise]

It's usually a county or city ordinance concerning zoning, at least it is for us. Find out what your zoning is (general, single family, agricultural, etc.) then go look on your county or city webpage for zoning regulations. Good luck, I have had wayyyy too much experience with zoning

 

[Susie570]

Do you have a courthouse?

Yes, I did leave the Ag guy a message though, so maybe he will call me back? :shrug: <br /><br /> __________ Mon Jun 15, 2015 4:09 pm __________ <br /><br />

It's usually a county or city ordinance concerning zoning, at least it is for us. Find out what your zoning is (general, single family, agricultural, etc.) then go look on your county or city webpage for zoning regulations. Good luck, I have had wayyyy too much experience with zoning

I believe my zoning here is General, but I'm not 100% certain. It's my business location.

 

[BlueHaven]

It can be tricky as its up to your town to decide if rabbits are pets, or livestock. They can be either, but some towns don't want large numbers so they
can classify them as pets. Here if your in the city limits, you can only have three. My husband and I did spy a garage full of cages once though
Good thing is rabbits are quite and If you just keep them clean, no body usually even would know.
We are outside the city limits and we are zoned agg. and industrial. We have a grain mill across a big field to our east, and corn fields all around us.
I am not worried about keeping rabbits where I am.

 

[Zinnia]

15 years ago, when we lived in town.... I wanted chickens. I knew of no one that had them in town, so I called the city attorney and asked if there was any ordinance for chickens in town. He said... "Well, I can't legally tell you can't have them... We don't appear to have any ordinance that could prevent you..." So I got chickens!

And, then a crabby uptight, neighbor came by and shook his finger at me. I blew it off.

And, then a police officer came!

"What's the trouble?", I asked.

"You have chickens. That's the trouble."

"Is it? How?" I asked.

"I't not legal to have chickens in the city!" He gasped, shaking his head at me.

"Oh...." I said (welling up with confidence). "You must not know the law, officer. I have already asked the city attorney and there is no such law against it."



And then.... LOTS of people in town got chickens! And my crabby neighbor got crabbier. :clap:

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

And then.... LOTS of people in town got chickens! And my crabby neighbor got crabbier. :clap:

My nimrod neighbor must meet your crabby neighbor. They can live with her seven dogs, nine cats, skunk, and who knows what else, someplace far away from us!

:mrgreen:

 

[Deer Heart]

In my area ordinances are per county; excluding city limits which gain a lot of their own ordinances except one that decided it was cheaper to just pay into the county than have their own animal control (all other cities/townships use their police department or random guy they pay for their personal animal ordinances). So it depends greatly on your area really. In our area animal control is NOT a police entity, it is purely a civil entity. It only becomes criminal if they REALLY see something major and call police in which agree to prosecute the party. For example, animal control stumbles upon a legitimate cockerel fighting operation. They would contact the police department and file for warrants and then with police present, would assist the police department in cataloging evidence for a criminal case, even house the animals as evidence at their facility if warrant allows. The animal control is not arresting the persons responsible, the police department is if they feel once everything is collected they have enough to do so.

Animal control on the other hand might fine you for unlicensed dogs/cats/ferrets, failure to control whatever you have if it left your property/more heavily if that animal was a dog and attacked someone/their pet, for tethering your dog, or in rare cases if they tell you you need vet care for something but you fail to do so in a reasonable amount of time - that last one usually has to be something that they didn't see improve either. Well cared for rabbits would be sooooo off their radar, especially if you culled anything you couldn't fix yourself, which is perfectly legal in this state.

Now code enforcement on the other hand.... you do NOT want to screw with those guys. They will nickle and dime you and bully the heck out of you, especially if they don't like you. If you have ever seen that episode of Married with Children where Al tries to make a dog house for their dog, that is accurate if you pissed off the wrong neighbor/code enforcement officer. :roll: (this one; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CzMaXaN7C8 :lol: **warning; little bit of bad language**)

 

[Prisma]

The biggest issue going to run into, is if some one makes a fuss. It has been years ago, but had an older gent get mad because a kid was out selling him on Easter bunnies at tripple what he was selling them for. Called the cops on me, they laughed and let it go but he kept pushing. If I'd had any where near the 500 in sales limit; I'd been faced with fines etc. But being smart and well a kid, most sales were in cash and there were next to nothing in black and white for them to see....so no trouble.

Considering were you are, Health Department is probably going to be your biggest issue and pain. If some one goes to them and complains that its creating an unsafe and unfit environment for not only them but any one in the area including kids, it can get ugly fast even without a real reason depending on the worker/people on the case. There are some very active AR people down that way, it is best to keep the no see, no hear, and no smell rule in place. If you can see, hear, or smell the rabbits need to give attention to whatever is making that and fix it so it isn't. Definitely still check with local office and county, I wouldn't give them any more information than needed in case one of them is an AR or "miss" understanding person as I've run into that with just general questions.

 

[Susie570]

People generally know that I have rabbits. I'm trying to move the cages around so that none of them are directly visible to 'the public', but I'm not sure that will be possible. There is a smell... usually not a BAD one (at least to me), just a 'barn' type smell, hay and probably some poop smell. It's the urine smell I worry about and try to stay on top of. If I start to smell pee, I do a cleanup. Hopefully that helps. I also use incense when it's too hot (or rainy) to open my doors and let a fresh breeze through.

 

[CloverHen]

I'm more worried about the ARA types honestly. I keep a good standard of clean/ventilation/temps and I live in the middle of nowhere so I don't think AC is going to have an issue with me. We have cameras on the property now after we had someone poking around who broke the windows on the barn that the rabbits are in. I think they were looking for something to steal but it freaked me out none the less. Not a single issue since the cameras went up.

 

[Deer Heart]

I'm more worried about the ARA types honestly. I keep a good standard of clean/ventilation/temps and I live in the middle of nowhere so I don't think AC is going to have an issue with me. We have cameras on the property now after we had someone poking around who broke the windows on the barn that the rabbits are in. I think they were looking for something to steal but it freaked me out none the less. Not a single issue since the cameras went up.

Agreed. Animal Control (here at least) really is just there to improve and educate. TV shows exaggerate a lot. (Do I really even need to say that? :lol: ) If you're treating your animals well, they generally wont return unless they're being pressured by those dreaded ARA's who wont take "nothing is wrong" as an answer. If they wont, then the ARA's tend to take illegal and oftentimes harassing measures.

AC honestly wouldn't get involved in the first place without an ARA, Disgruntled buyer, or Nosy Neighbor dragging them into it (this goes for Code, too). A strictly closed rabbitry will protect you from all but the nosy neighbor and even that could be easily deterred by proper placement, cover, and husbandry. Can't be nosy about something they can't get the slightest whiff of without jumping a 6ft fence. :roll: I'n my case, they'd have to jump 2 6ft fences to reach my rabbits. One of which is on heavy dog patrol. :mrgreen: Is it worth it? Nope.

 

[wamplercathy]

I'm really glad I live in the sticks. No neighbors, no cops, and no city laws. As long as my critters are healthy, active, and have food and water no issues. When we lived in town one of my neighbors had pigmy goats and another had chickens. We were all good till their animals came on our property and started eating our grass and flower beds. :evil: They were told several times to keep their critters off own land but they never did. So we had chicken and goat for dinner. :twisted: After that they keep them on their own land and far far far away from the hungry neighbors. :lol: :lol: