Editorial: Belleville residents tell their animal stories to council

For more than an hour at Monday’s Belleville City Council meeting, residents of the city and nearby townships told their animal stories. This is in response to the proposed first reading of an ordinance to restrict the number of dogs and cats at residences and outlaw most farm animals.
It all started with complaints about that darn rooster crowing on Henry Street. At one point, it was stated roosters only crow at night when there is a predator and roosters fight to protect their hens.
City Manager Jason Smith thought he could look at ordinances in other communities and base the new ordinance on them. Why reinvent the wheel? But the residents said his planned 20-page ordinance wasn’t right for Belleville.
Residents wanted rabbits and ducks and hens to be left in their yards. 4-H kids raise them for the fair and then keep them as pets. Several women with foster homes for animal rescues told how they keep more dogs than would be allowed and one said she would move if she couldn’t foster dogs.
The city manager reported the city attorney said they shouldn’t grandfather animals, such as the rooster, and should give the owner a set number of days to get rid of it. There was lots of discussion and tears and an angry retort.
Mayor Voigt thanked them all for their comments and asked the city manager to set a public hearing on the ordinance and postpone its first reading for now.