Michigan city bans chickens, coyotes and even tigers as pets

MARYSVILLE, Mich. (AP) — When chickens come home to roost, they better make sure it’s not in Marysville.

City leaders in the community about 65 miles (104 kilometers) northeast of Detroit have enacted a new law banning chickens, pheasants, badgers, kangaroos, coyotes and even cougars and tigers, the Times Herald of Port Huron reported.

The new domestic animals and fowl ordinance that goes into effect in mid-August was crafted after some residents complained about neighbors who owned chickens and crowing roosters, according to Marysville City Manager Randy Fernandez.

Marysville’s current ordinance bans “animals or domestic fowl within the city except dogs, cats, birds, fowl, or animals commonly classified as pets,” the newspaper reported.

“So, what this basically does is tighten the limit on … no more chickens and some other animals that we would consider livestock, that do not belong in the limits of Marysville or any other city,” Fernandez told city council members Monday.

Marysville has about 9,600 residents and is located along the St. Clair River, which separates that part of Michigan from Canada.

The new ordinance allows Fernandez to deal with addressing future animal complaints “case by case if that’s the way that administration wants to,” City Attorney Al Francis said.

However, the inclusion of animals like chinchillas, doves and ferrets on the banned list might have been a little too much, according to Councilman Dave Barber who said he knows people who keep such animals.

“I get the rest of it, and I feel for the folks who have chickens,” Barber said. “But I question those three.”