Flagstaff Changes Rules On Backyard Animals

By Stina Sieg
Published: Friday, February 12, 2016 - 4:32pm
Updated: Sunday, February 14, 2016 - 2:35pm
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New rules in Flagstaff will change the way people keep what some consider barnyard animals their backyard. A new ordinance updates rules on keeping animals like chickens, miniature goats and bees in the city.

The changes are many, include allowing the slaughter of animals — as long as it’s humane and out of public — and officially allowing bees and guinea pigs in city limits. They’d been left out of previous ordinances.

Nicole Woodman, Flagstaff’s sustainability manger, said the updates were badly needed, due to confusing language and antiquated rules.

This new ordinance is meant to help Flagstaff residents who are trying to live more sustainably, Wood said, as well as those who want to sell their homegrown honey, eggs and other products.

“It definitely supports a lifestyle that a number of our community members are already living,” she said. “And so, it is overdue.”

The changes have been in the works for more than four years, and many deal with animal welfare. Many in the community already helped vet the new rules, Woodman said, explaining that Flagstaff also reached out to other cities with strong animal-welfare rules while creating the ordinance.

“And we might need to make some tweaks, changes here or there,” Woodman said, “but that’s the nice part about having such a strong community support for this, is that we’ve got a lot of partners in the community to test it, and to ensure we’re on the right path.”

The city will soon launch a community outreach campaign to help get people acquainted with the new guidelines.