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Council to clarify animal-keeping rules; staff to draft ordinance allowing humane backyard harvest in certain zones
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Summary
Councilmembers directed staff to return with ordinance language clarifying whether residents may harvest chickens and other livestock kept lawfully on city lots. The draft amendments would allow discreet, humane harvesting on properties where the animals are lawfully kept, limit public exposure and address disposal and nuisance controls.
City staff asked the council Aug. 25 for guidance on updating local animal‑keeping rules to address whether residents may slaughter or harvest animals lawfully kept on city property. The discussion grew out of questions about backyard chickens that stop laying and whether owners may humanely harvest those birds and how to regulate the practice without creating public nuisance or health concerns.
Sean (city staff) presented a draft approach based on other municipalities’ ordinances and asked the council whether the city should permit slaughter or harvest of "livestock" that are lawfully kept. The draft language under discussion would permit humane slaughter by the lawful owner on residential properties that meet the zoning criteria, but it would prohibit slaughter that is visible from public rights-of-way or that creates a nuisance from odor, waste or unsanitary conditions. The draft also proposed standards for waste removal and discouraging public display of carcasses.
Councilmembers discussed zoning limits and where such activity should be allowed. Staff suggested limiting permissible harvest to low‑density residential zones (R‑1) or similar districts and to require that activity be discreet and not visible from streets or neighboring yards; members asked whether R‑2 (smaller‑lot single‑family and duplex zones) might be included with additional screening requirements. The draft included a working definition of "livestock" that listed swine, sheep, goats, poultry, farm‑raised deer, farm‑raised fish and bees. Staff noted that legally hunted or trapped game under Wisconsin statute should remain subject to state hunting and trapping rules.
Public safety and disease transmission questions were raised; staff said routine humane slaughter of backyard poultry is not typically an airborne public‑health risk but recommended the city adopt standards that require humane handling, timely waste removal and discretion to avoid creating a neighborhood nuisance. Senior staff and the chief of police noted the city could rely on existing nuisance and public‑health code provisions to backstop enforcement.
Councilmembers generally favored allowing residents who lawfully keep poultry to harvest nonlaying birds, with the council asking staff and legal to draft ordinance language that would allow such harvests in specified zoning districts, define appropriate standards (humane practice, discreet location, proper waste disposal) and return with a consolidated ordinance for council action. Staff said they would refine the draft, add clarifying definitions and return for formal consideration.
