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In Cambridge, a duck ruckus

E-mail|Link|Comments () February 13, 2010 10:22 AM

savetheducks.org

Penelope, Potassium, and Ferdinand

By Meghan Irons, Globe Staff

CAMBRIDGE -- In the photograph, Penelope, Potassium and Ferdinand pose in a backyard looking as cute as can be. But the Cayuga ducks and their two Wyandotte chicken companions, Henrietta and Frances, may have to leave their coop -- if the city of Cambridge gets its wish.

Cambridge has determined that the backyard birds are illegal and violate city ordinances. And for the past 11 months, the birds' owners have been locked in a fight with city officials and their neighbors over their residency.

Blake Brasher said he and the seven others who co-own their Putnam Avenue house decided to raise chicks and ducklings because they thought they were cute. “We are animal lovers,’’ he said. “There are other exotic animals in the house. We have a ferret and a cat, and we thought, 'Wouldn’t it be neat if we had ducks and chickens as pets?'”

But some neighbors were not happy when they saw their feathered neighbors pecking and waddling around the back yard. They began complaining that the birds would attract rats, foul up the air, and increase the risk of bird flu.

"I don't like the chickens and ducks because they smell and they are loud,'' said Marcia Hamilton, a 62-year-old resident who lives behind Brasher and has been there for 35 years. "They had a really stinking duck pool, and they put it right next to my fence."

Hamilton, who started a petition to remove the birds, said she lost the use of her yard because of the stench.

"I think if people see [what I've been through] been maybe they can understand my point,'' said Hamilton, who called the police after she saw her neighbors building a coop for the birds." I basically lost the use of my yard."

The city’s zoning board and inspectional services department have agreed, saying the birds were not considered customary pets like dogs and cats and must go. Brasher’s group filed an appeal in December, in a futile attempt to save the birds. They also launched a website called savetheducks.org.

But the city's Board of Zoning Appeals rejected their plea on Thursday. Now the group is turning to the City Council for one last reprieve.

The bird brouhaha in densely populated Cambridge comes as chickens have been appearing in communities around Boston recently, such as Arlington, Brookline, and Belmont. A group of Waltham residents has proposed changing the city's ordinances to allow homeowners to keep one chicken as a pet.

Hamilton said she is pleased with the zoning board's decision, but worries that her battle with the bird owners has not come to a conclusion.

"We want this to be over,'' she said."And their plan is to let it go and on."