CALGARY (660 NEWS) – Should Calgarians be able to keep chickens as emotional support animals?

A city committee approved changes to the Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw Wednesday, with some strict criteria.

It’s now up to council to give it the final cluck of approval.

Ward 3 Councillor Jyoti Gondek said this isn’t about opening up the breadth of animals you can keep, but about addressing the issue of alternative forms of treatment for mental illness.

“If having an emotional support animal, which abides by the regulations that we’ve set out, is a way to get people off of prescription medication, and give them an alternative that works for them, and puts them in a safer environment and keeps their family together, I think it’s important for us to look at,” she said.

The bylaw, drafted with help from the Calgary Humane Society, also took other livestock, like pigs and miniature horses, into consideration.

Gondek said each case will be evaluated on its own.

“And it will have to be determined that there’s a veterinarian that can care for the animal, there will have to be some sort of indication from either a psychiatric or psychologist — expert — that this is indeed needed, and then we will need to look at the property itself to ensure that the lot can contain the animal that’s being proposed,” she said.

There will be a licensing process as well.

“I was very impressed with the lengths that administration went through to speak to all parties that would have a better understanding of the noises and smells and implications of having something that we would traditionally consider to be livestock now being kept within an urban boundary,” Gondek said.

She said they’ve chatted with other municipalities which have contemplated this, and she is confident that Calgary has a robust bylaw system that can manage related noise and neighbour complaints.

– with files from City News