Now I’ve been accused of abandoning my chickens.
Friday around midday, just before the rain started, I went to our new location to tend the chickens and to unload the feed so it didn’t get wet sitting in the back of our truck. I was there maybe an hour, then went home for lunch. Noah and I then returned to pick up harvest bins and wash them. When we left there to go to the gardens on Maize Road, there were several school buses on the road, so I estimate it was somewhere between 2:30 and 3:00.
I spent the afternoon installing a water line and some homemade pumps at the community garden, then spent the evening harvesting vegetables for my CSA members, working until after dark. I have a refrigerator for eggs at the same place where the chickens are, so on our way back home, we swung by to pick up the week’s eggs (and to see if the hens had laid any more while we were gone) so I’d have them for the farmers market the next morning.
As I pulled into the drive, I saw a paper taped to the fence. I got out of the truck and saw it was a notice from a Humane Society officer saying that I was being investigated for abandoning my animals. Officer Pfeiffer had written the time of the notice as 16:13 (that’s 4:13 p.m. for all you civilians), and said that if I didn’t call their office in 15 hours, they were going to steal my chickens and either adopt them out or kill them. Fifteen hours after 4:13 p.m. Friday, as you’ve already figured out if you bothered to count, is 7:13 a.m. Saturday. It was about 10:45 p.m. when I discovered the notice.
Now, I don’t know if the Humane Society operates 24 hours a day, but I do know that if you drop off a notice late Friday afternoon instructing someone to respond before the start of business the next day, you can probably count on not hearing back from them by that time. Also, while opinions on poultry management differ, chickens really only need to be fed once a day. Since I had already fed them, it was just a lucky coincidence that I happened to be going back there to pick up eggs. Were that not the case, I wouldn’t have found it until the following afternoon after the farmers market. I think a pretty strong argument could be made that this notice was served with the intent of my not discovering it before the deadline, and that’s just downright unethical.
I called back immediately, and of course, no answer. The notice didn’t say they needed to speak with me, only that I needed to respond within 15 hours to prove that I hadn’t abandoned my animals. I left my name and the address, told them I’m there once or twice a day, usually for a few hours a day, and hung up. The next morning while I was at the market, Mayda also called. No answer again, and Mayda left both her and my cell phone numbers.
After the market, when I went to tend the birds, I saw another notice, this time taped to the front door. It said that I needed to call back and leave a contact number so we could set up an appointment. I called back, and again, no answer. I said that as I had already contacted their office within the time limit, I didn’t see how there could be any further question about whether I had abandoned my animals. I asked that someone call me to explain what the problem was.
I got a call a couple hours later. The officer apologized for the second notice, saying that she hadn’t gotten Mayda’s message before posting it. She said that the complaint alleged both that I had abandoned the animals and that they were living in unsanitary conditions. On the face of it, that’s a ridiculous allegation. If I had abandoned them, they wouldn’t be living at all! Furthermore, I had demonstrated that I had not abandoned them, so that, I would think, should clearly expose the complainant as a crank. This was a bogus complaint, probably lodged by someone who was upset because I haven’t cut the grass for a while or something.
But rather than drop the matter and go after the accuser for making a false complaint, they’re saying I have to have an officer over to inspect the place. Apparently, the term “probable cause” is not within the vocabulary of the Humane Society.
Last time, years ago, when someone complained to the Humane Society that we had a “sick rooster,” they dropped in for a visit and Mayda showed them that we had no roosters, and that the hens were all healthy. That was the end of that, but then we started getting visits from the Health Department and Zoning. I really don’t need to go through this crap all over again. We’re LEGAL. The chickens are on a plot outside city limits that’s over an acre, not in a subdivision, and not prohibited by the township. Any further intrusion at this point is just malicious harassment.
