A state appeals court has agreed a former Ohio National Guardsman violated a local ban by keeping pet ducks that he says help relieve his post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

Judges from the Fifth District Court of Appeals concluded there wasn't sufficient evidence that Darin Welker's ducks are necessary, that there's no alternative and that he'd face imminent harm without them.

He'd been convicted of a minor misdemeanor and fined $50 for keeping more than a dozen ducks at home in West Lafayette, 80 miles east of Columbus. He gave some ducks away, leaving him with a half-dozen.

Welker says they're therapeutic after he served in Iraq. Welker told The Coshocton Tribune he plans to appeal again and didn't want to comment further before talking to his attorney.