Let's join with cities throughout the country and welcome chickens in Durango. The arguments in opposition to chickens in Durango are easy to solve. Supporters realize that the rules need not be complicated. I Googled "chickens in the city" and found pages of information. It would take a short time to develop guidelines allowing some home dwellers to keep several chickens within Durango city limits.
Cities and towns all over the country allow backyard chicken coops (housing hens not roosters) within their limits. Among them are Brooklyn, New York City, Chicago, Miami, Topeka, Atlanta, Denver, Des Moines, San Francisco, and Albuquerque. During World War II, in a suburb of Washington, D.C., my family grew a "victory garden" in the front yard of our Maryland home and hous-ed chickens in a coop out back on the patio.
Our country is again at war, and in addition, we are in economic turmoil as well as facing global warming that threatens our environment. We need to get back to basics. Raising some of our food is a start.
Sustainability is being advocated throughout our community, and raising a few chickens and growing some of the food we will serve at our own tables is a way to work with the natural world toward bringing balance back to planet Earth.
Mary Alice Hearn, Durango