Q: Is there a way to own a rooster if my county’s municipal code states that owning a rooster is prohibited?
I live in Frederick county Maryland and our municipal code states that only female chickens are permitted; no roosters. There is a rooster at my local animal shelter that I have grown quite found of. I was wondering if there are any ways to get around this rule prohibiting them. Could registering him as an emotional support animal work? He is very similar to a calm dog because the shelter is all he has ever known. I am an experienced owner with a large amount of fenced in land but I do not own any other livestock/poultry animals at this time.
A: Kinda like asking if there’s a way around speed limits because, well, you are fond of driving fast and speed is emotionally calming to you. If there’s no exception in the law that prohibits roosters, which I have not looked up, then there’s no way around it. Areas are zoned as farmland and other areas are zoned as residential, commercial or industrial. People who purchase property within particular zones do so with certain expectations, like buying a residential zoned home and not having to be jolted awake at the crack of dawn to the sound of roosters crowing, cattle grazing in their yards, hog farms and their stench next door, etc. Of course, somebody would have to complain, and turn you in, to get you into trouble. I imagine you’d just get a warning to remove the rooster.
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