New Hyde Park trustees are looking to crack down on residents illegally keeping livestock in homes and mistreating them, something Mayor Christopher Devane said is a problem in the village.
“These people aren’t able to care for these animals, and they’re in terrible condition,” Devane said. “You can’t have livestock as pets.”
It is illegal to keep any type of livestock, including ducks, chickens and hens, in a village home or to abuse an animal.
The current penalty if the village finds a resident with livestock in their home is a $100 fine. Devane said the village is looking to increase the fine to $2,500 per animal and tack on additional penalties, including reporting the person to the ASPCA and making them financially liable for any necessary veterinary care for the animal if it had been abused.
The village is motivated to prosecute offenders after it found a hen abandoned with all of its toes broken in front of New Hyde Park Road School earlier this month.
The village picked up the hen, brought it to village hall to take care of it for a night and sent it to a sanctuary, where it has been recovering since.
“Someone dumped that hen at the school. There’s no other way a hen gets to the Road School,” Devane said. People are just discarding these animals.”
Earlier this year, the village picked up a trio of chickens illegally kept in a resident’s home, which Devane said were also in poor condition. A few years ago, the village found a duo of ducks also illegally kept in a resident’s home, which the village also said were abused.
“It’s not a cultural thing,” Devane said. “Three of the chickens were being attacked by rats living outside. The hen had broken toes. The ducks were white, but one of the ducks had black spots and it was outside while it was about five degrees out.”
Devane said he believed there were residents illegally keeping livestock in their homes. He urged anyone doing so to come forward now before the penalty increases.
“If you come forward to us and say, ‘I have an issue,’ we’ll come. We’ll take it here. We’ll get it to a sanctuary,” Devane said. “But if we catch you, all bets are off. Now is the time to come forward. We will catch you, I promise you that.”
A public hearing on the potential change to the village law is tentatively set for September or October, Devane said. The board is working on updating the law’s language and plans to vote on the changes this fall.
“We’re going to present it to the public, probably in September’s meeting, but we’re looking to go forward,” Devane said. “This is crazy.”
“The goal is not to raise revenue. The goal is for the welfare of the animals,” he continued. “If raising the fine causes people to say, ‘I’m not gonna have livestock in my backyard, because I’m not gonna take that chance,’ as far as I’m concerned, we win.”
