Your Tax Dollars at Work

Yesterday, we got a thick envelope from the Columbus City Board of Health saying that it’s come to their attention that we may be raising chickens, and that we need to either get rid of them or go through their application process to get a license. Included in the envelope were all the forms and information we’d need to get started on that process.

I understand the health department probably has a policy of not telling people the names of those who reported them, but I do hope they have that information on file for the Sheriff. See, I know it’s highly improbable that any of my neighbors don’t realize that we live in Mifflin Township and therefore fall outside the jurisdiction of the City of Columbus. Mifflin has no regulations against having chickens if you have more than an acre, and I have nearly five.  We’re under county jurisdiction–and the county health department has repeatedly iterated that having chickens does not put us in violation of any rules.

So who would have made this complaint? Someone who doesn’t know the neighborhood. Someone who’s not a neighbor but nonetheless has a problem with me having chickens. Who might that be? Well, the person or persons who have been stealing them come to mind. And since the only chickens I have left are behind multiple locks, a chain, a six-foot wire fence topped with electric wire, and the hen house is actually attached to my house (meaning it’s burglary, a second- or third-degree felony rather than just B&E), and no more hens have disappeared since I’ve taken these measures, this may represent a change in tactics on the part of the thief.

Or it might be someone else entirely. Hard to say. At any rate, I’m hoping the city health department will share their information with the Sheriff’s detective to whom I reported these thefts.