Laserfiche WebLink
DRAFT <br />be impossible to gather all the data. He believed that there was an implied and explicit <br />expectation that when a house was bought in a residential neighborhood in Pleasanton, a resident <br />would know what was in the neighbor's yard. He believed that a wild raptor or wild animal on <br />the other side of the fence was not something he would expect in a residential neighborhood. He <br />believed the precedent would be set that it would be acceptable to have a caged, wild animal in <br />the back yard and that the definition of fowl would be so broad as to allow troublesome birds. <br />He indicated that he did not want this case to be used as a precedent and inquired whether a <br />deadline provision would be applicable in any Municipal Code violations. He would like the <br />Code to be clearly defined. <br />In response to an inquiry by Mr. Carl regarding whether hunting was allowed in Pleasanton, <br />Ms. Harryman replied that hunting was not mentioned in the Municipal Code, and, therefore, <br />staff looked to the State laws. <br />Mr. Carl noted that whether or not an election was involved in the identification process, it did <br />not change the fact that the City had agreed there was a Municipal Code violation which he <br />would like to see addressed. He believed that raptors were beautiful and that they should be able <br />to live free and wild. He believed this was a blood sport and that all blood sports should be <br />banned. He did not differentiate in his mind between this activity and dogfighting or <br />cockfighting. He noted that all Scandinavian countries have banned hawking because they <br />equated it to dogfighting and cockfighting. He hoped that the applicant could be separated from <br />the issue itself. His primary concern was safety, and he was very concerned about hawk attacks. <br />He noted that UC Davis and the Lindsay Wildlife Museum stated that while hawk attacks were <br />infrequent, they did occur. He noted that wild animals or birds that had been in the care of <br />humans prior to being released tended to become confused and may b.e more aggressive because <br />they had lost their natural fear of humans. He noted that Lindsay Museum staff did not release <br />birds back into the wild for that reason. <br />Mr. Carl did not believe that a hawk equaled a fowl and noted that numerous State agricultural <br />codes were very specific with respect to hawks, fowls, chickens, ducks, and geese; the State <br />recognized fowl as a thing for consumption. He was concerned that the keeping of hawks would <br />jeopardize pending real estate transactions and noted that this issue affected the entire <br />neighborhood. He noted that there were several emails in the public record which discussed the <br />applicant tossing live quail out of season and without a license to the hawk in the hawk <br />enclosure. He inquired whether that was hunting without a license. He noted that UC Davis and <br />Lindsay Wildlife Museum used dead prey. <br />Mr. Carl believed the question of whether a caged wild animal should be acceptable in a <br />residential neighborhood should be a clear yes-or-no issue. He believed the question of sunset <br />provisions should be clearly addressed. He noted that several friends of his had wished to speak <br />but had been intimidated and did not want to risk some of their standing; they were concerned <br />about the animal rights issues. They believed that because the animals could not speak for <br />themselves, it would be up to the humans to determine whether this was a proper practice. <br />Bill Rose noted that he was not a neighbor of the applicant but was along-time bird-watcher; he <br />noted that much of current knowledge about raptors was due to the falconers. He noted that they <br />DRAFT EXCERPTS: PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, 12/12/2007 Page 5 of 9 <br />