A chicken in every yard

There will always be a few who are, as Dick Cavett once said of Woody Allen, “at two with nature.”
One spoke up at last week’s Sonoma City Council meeting to decry Bob Cannard’s idea of families raising some of their food by having gardens and a few chickens or rabbits.
“I think it’s nice that you want a couple of bunnies around,” said Herb Goelenpaul. “But rabbits will be rabbits. Pretty soon you’ll be up to the you-know-what in rabbits.” As the image of a city hopping in rabbits surprised the imagination, he ramped up the threat. “Any time you have chickens, you’ll have rats. Just think, if 50 homes decide they want to raise chickens, think of the noise, think of the stink! Anybody can plant vegetables. But chickens! I know: you’re going to have rats.” On a roll, he expanded his vision into the realm of traffic safety. “Rabbits, they’re going to get out, run across the street, a car will stop, hit something. It’s a safety hazard!”
Sonoma Police Chief Bret Sackett seemed un-phased by the law enforcement aspect of rabbits, but did remind the council that avian flu may be passed through feces, “so spacing [between homes and coops] would be important.”
All others spoke in favor of the creatures. A man identifying himself only as “Joe” heartily endorsed the idea, agreeing with Chief Sackett’s caution. “I know people who do have chickens. And I’ve had many chickens, and I’ve never have a rat problem. I think Mr. Cannard has the right approach for families and children. The key is limiting the numbers.” Laurie Gallian suggested a study might be appropriate, “on a more per person study of chickens and the rabbits.”
On the whole, the council’s attitude was positive. Councilmember Steve Barbose said, “I’ve had chickens, and never had any problems except with their fighting with each other. I’d like to see us explore ways where it would work for people without bothering neighbors.” August Sebastiani said, “I think this is great. As a testimony from a guy who lives next door to quite a few chickens and quite a few roosters, for the first week, you notice it, but after that, it’s like white noise. It’s a non-factor. I think any opposition to this is an indication of where I fear our community might be headed. We’re a small, quaint town and people want to move here, and then they get here and are appalled that it smells like manure.”
Ken Brown, who admitted being raised in the city, said he supported the idea, on a limited basis, but would not be inclined to suspending the ordinance. Councilmember Stanley Cohen agreed with Brown in not changing anything, but did support this idea in principle. Mayor Sanders suggested they direct staff to ease up on the permits so families can raise their own vegetables and chickens for their own consumption. “We must protect individual rights to raise chickens on their own land. I hope we as a community can really get behind that and get back to nature a little bit.” She added that her family had chickens when she was little, “and we lived in one of the biggest communities in Silicon Valley.”
Cannard, who said he was an advisor during the Victory Garden program in 1943, offered his services as an advisor as the program got off the ground. “I’d like to say that I would hope that Sonoma would initiate a program that could become a national model,” he said, “We ought to put together a program like the victory gardens after World War II, and promote it widely. It’ll gain accolades for the City of Sonoma.”