It’s time to end the chicken fight
It’s time to let laying chickens lie.
Smooth the ruffled feathers and move on.
Can we finally put the urban chicken issue back in the coop?
Choose your own pun, fair or fowl, about the recent court ruling in the Great Eldorado Chicken War.
Even state Court of Appeals Court Judge Jonathan Sutin couldn’t resist in his decision issued last week in favor of the pro-poultry faction in Santa Fe’s only suburb. He rejected the “Chicken Little-esque” notion that “the sky will fall” if backyard hens are allowed in Eldorado.
Regardless of the word play (and there’s probably been way too much of it over the years this issue has produced news coverage), we’re glad Sutin and an Appeals Court panel found that keeping chickens doesn’t violate Eldorado’s covenant rule against animals that aren’t “recognized household pets.”
A pro-chicken member of the Eldorado Community Improvement Association’s board says the homeowners’ group has spent $100,000 in the legal controversy, which started when the ECIA sued hen-keepers in 2012.
The association still could try to get the state Supreme Court to weigh in on the chicken fight. But doesn’t Eldorado have better things to use its community coffers for?
Clearly, some people like having chickens around and enjoy fresh eggs from hens on their own little piece of free range. Eldorado always has had a semi-rural feel and was designed with plenty of space between homes, lessening the potential impact of chickens on neighbors. And nuisance laws or those covering humane treatment of animals should provide all the enforcement authority needed to deal with any chicken owners who don’t provide proper care and maintenance. Can’t standard pets, like barking dogs, be more of nuisance than a few chickens behind a fence?
Fried or fricaseed (sorry!), this debate should be done.