FOXNews.com: QUACKDOWN Pennsylvania Duck-Owner Faces $500-a-Day Fine

Changes are afoot at Blogtrottr! By popular request, we're bringing in paid plans with some cool new features (and more on the way). You can read all about it in our blog post.

FOXNews.com FOX News Channel - We Report. You Decide. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

QUACKDOWN Pennsylvania Duck-Owner Faces $500-a-Day Fine Jul 3rd 2013, 18:40 A Pennsylvania man is facing a fine of $500 a day for having four pet ducks. Delmont resident Jim Kistler was notified that having his web-footed pals, Larry, Moe, Curly and Fred, is a violation of a borough ordinance, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. And even though the ducks are kept in an enclosure and not exactly dangerous, there doesn't appear to be much he can do. "It's not easy to deal with," Kistler told FoxNews.com.  It is absolutely ridiculous. I am very upset about it." "It is a David and Goliath story, they really don't want me to have the ducks. But most of the borough is rallying behind me, so we will see what happens." - Jim Kistler The ducks won't hurt anybody, according to Jim Bonner, executive director of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania.  Blue Swedish ducks are fairly common pets and are known for being docile and quiet, he said. "They are a domesticated species," he said. "These guys have been bred for centuries. It's really no different (from a dog or cat). If my neighbor had one, I wouldn't mind." But the borough ordinance doesn't just ban ducks. Swine, goats, sheep, insects, reptiles having a venomous or constrictor nature, bovines and quadrupeds — such as elephants, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, moose and deer are all forbidden as household pets. The municipal law also bans "poultry," a classification which apparently takes in ducks, but which Kistler believes is aimed at residential chicken farming. "I am not going to eat my pets," he said. Neither borough zoning officer William Heaps nor zoning board attorney Jon Sweeney could be reached for comment. Kistler keeps the ducks in a pen in his yard with a disposable pool and a small wood house. The pen is secured with a lock and is topped with a predator screen for protection from redtail hawks. A hearing is scheduled with the borough on July 22 to decide the fate of the ducks.  Until then, Kistler hopes to garner as much support as he can to help his cause. "It is a David and Goliath story, they really don't want me to have the ducks." he told FoxNews.com.  "But most of the borough is rallying behind me, so we will see what happens." Click for more at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions