City in flap with family concerning flightless birds

Beth Slovic

Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2005 | 11:04 a.m.

Before the Andrews family from Deer Island, Ore., bought their new house in Henderson they said they made sure the city would allow pet emus, the flightless birds similar to ostriches that are all the rage in the Pacific Northwest.

The city's zoning officials said it was OK, according to Louise Andrews, a 42-year-old carpenter who now lives with her husband, her mother, three children, three dogs, three cats, two horses and two emus -- Chewy and Snoopy -- on a 0.66 acre lot on Belfast Street in a rural section of Henderson.

But shortly after moving into the 2-story frame stucco house, the family received a citation from the city's department of animal control. Officials with animal control, the family discovered in September, did not agree with zoning officials. The animals were "wild," they said. And they had to be removed from the family's backyard corrals.

As zoning officials held to their position that the emus could stay, Andrews decided to fight the citation. A letter dated Oct. 18 from Mary Kay Peck, the director of Henderson's Community Development department, encouraged her. It said city regulations governing the keeping of horses also could be used to govern the care of emus.

Because only the number of emus and horses would be restricted by these regulations, the family thought they were in the clear, they said.

Then about two weeks ago, Andrews received a summons to appear in municipal court to face charges of keeping wild animals illegally and violating a restriction on keeping fowl.

Henderson's municipal code defines a wild animal as anything that is found naturally in an undomesticated state, Keith Paul, a spokesman for the Henderson police department, which has jurisdiction over the city's animal control department, said. Animal control official think emus qualify as such because they are found in nature in Australia, Paul said.

Now, because animal control and zoning do not agree on the emus' status, it is up to the city attorneys and a municipal judge in Henderson to interpret the code, Paul said.

On Monday, Andrews and her mother, Luciell Boisclair, and her three children, Jennessa, 23, Jaime, 16, and Justin, 15, appeared in Henderson's Municipal Court expecting the charges to be dropped, Andrews said.

Instead, a hearing was set for March 7, meaning the family is facing the possibility of having to get rid of the 9-year-old birds they paid a total of $800 for in 1997 when they still lived in Oregon.

At the moment, Andrews said she does not know who, if anyone, made the complaint to animal control that prompted the citation. The lot on one side of her property is empty and the nearest neighbors on the other side said they do not have a problem with the animals. No one lives behind the Andrews' house because their property backs to a road.

One neighbor on Belfast Street, Dawn Davis, said she thought the opinions of the Andrews' neighbors should count when it comes time to decide if the emus stay or go. She would vote to have them stay, she said.

"I don't see what the fuss is about," Davis, a mother of four young children, said. "They don't bother us. They don't spit. They don't make noise. I don't understand why they can't just enjoy their pets."

Connie Christofferson of North Las Vegas may understand the fuss. In January, the pot-bellied pig owner went up against the North Las Vegas City Council in a battle to save her pet from eviction. In a 3-to-2 vote, the council agreed to allow pot-bellied pigs in residential zones, if owners purchased a special-use permit for a one-time fee of $400.

Neighbors had complained Christofferson's pig, Penelope, smelled bad and they wanted Penelope out of the neighborhood.

Snoopy and Chewy, the Andrews contend, do not cause a stink and do not make a lot of noise. They have never escaped from the individual corrals they live in next to the family's horses and they are not dangerous to neighbors, the family said.

The emus are sweet pets that happen to be 140 pounds birds, they said.

"They're just like horses," Jennessa Andrews said. "You can't ride them, but they're just like horses."