The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘Our only authority is to issue more tickets’
Lawmaker: Foreclosure a better remedy than fines to control what neighbors call destructive livestock in eastern Connecticut town
STERLING — A state legislator from the area in eastern Connecticut where roaming pigs and cattle have damaged crops, fields, and lawns said civil action that could lead to property foreclosure is a better remedy than the current pile of infractions that seem to be stalled in criminal court.
Rep. Doug Dubitsky, RChaplin, is among lawmakers working on a bill that emerged from chronic complaints in Sterling and Canterbury about a farming couple with properties in both towns. Ryan and Alycia Salvas and Radical Roots Farm LLP also are defendants in a lawsuit filed this year by Sterling residents over what the plaintiffs contend is tens of thousands of dollars in damage.
Wayward cows and pigs have trampled and rooted up residents’ lawns and gardens, snapped shrubs, eaten farmers’ hay and chicken feed, and caused prolonged frustration for more than two years, plaintiffs say. The regional animal control authority, the Northeast Connecticut Council of Governments, cited Ryan Salvas with more than 60 counts of violating state law on roaming livestock. Each count carries a possible fine of $95. Those cases are pending in Superior Court in Danielson.
But Dubitsky, an attorney who lives on a farm in Chaplin, said the problem would be better approached “on the civil side in the same way you have a zoning or health code violation.”
“The appropriate agency can issue a violation and fine, and if you don’t pay, the town can go to court and have a judgment and have a lien put on the property, and if you don’t pay the lien, after a while the town can foreclose,” he said.
Cows from the Radical Roots Farm have been loose in Sterling recently, trampling a garlic patch and eating some of a farmer’s silage, town Zoning Enforcement Officer Victoria Robinson-Lewis said. Pigs from the farm have not been seen in the kinds of numbers — as many as 22 in one group — as last fall, Robinson-Lewis said, but they have been sighted in local woods, and the sows are bearing litters in the woods. First Selectman Link Cooper said he expects a return in force of ravaging swine and cattle as the weather warms.
“There hasn’t been a great deal of activity,” Cooper said, “but it’s not going to stay that way.”
A representative for Radical Roots Farm could not be reached Monday.
A major concern of local officials and state lawmakers is that the loose hogs could go completely wild and start wreaking widespread damage as feral swine have done in other parts of the U.S.
Sen. Heather Somers, a Republican whose district includes Sterling, said she and other officials, including representatives of the state and federal agricultural agencies, met recently to discuss the ongoing problem. A U.S. Department of Agriculture official said during the meeting that the Sterling pigs do not meet the definition of “feral,” Somers said. Contacted Monday, agency spokesperson Tanya Espinosa pointed to the USDA description, which says feral swine may appear similar to their domestic cousins, but often have thicker hides with coarse, bristly hair and longer tusks.
Feral hogs can breed year-round and have up to two litters of four to 12 piglets each year. The animals are sexually mature at 6 to 8 months of age, so populations can double in size in four months, according to the USDA.
The Sterling livestock problems are the focus of an ongoing investigation, state Department of Agriculture spokesperson Rebecca Eddy said Monday. Department officials, Eddy said, “are engaging with legislators and NECCOG on legislation,” but Somers said department officials would not reveal any details about the investigation during the recent meeting.
The bill in the current state legislative session calls for the creation of a task force “to study the enforcement (of current state law on loose livestock) in order to prevent the occurrence of certain undesired interactions between roaming swine and bovines.” The panel would have to report its findings by the beginning of 2025.
But Dubitsky said stakeholders are already discussing the issue and possible remedies, including the civil action he favors. The bill could be amended “to accelerate the process and avoid the need for a task force,” he said.
Disputes over livestock and property lines are centuries old, Dubitsky noted, but Sterling officials and residents who have complained about Radical Roots Farm say such long-term and unresolved problems with one farm are far outside the norm. Testifying before legislators recently about the proposed bill, NECCOG Executive Director John Filchak said that in most cases where a citation for roaming livestock is necessary, “one issuance is enough to correct the situation and there is not a need to move to formal court action.”
In the Sterling case, however, “none of these tickets has seen final action by the court,” Filchak said. “In the meantime, persons in close proximity to these roaming animals continue to experience property damage and the fear of harm from these animals, raising their frustration level as the case drags on.”
“Our only authority is to issue more tickets,” Filchak testified. “The simple fact is that there is currently not a solution in place whereby local animal control can quickly correct instances where there are repeated instances of roaming livestock or other domestic animals. Our growing belief is that some form of mandatory mediation is what is needed.”