Duck duck gone: Tonawanda updates city code after neighbors cry fowl

Lawmakers felt the need to make this point clearer after neighbors objected to a new-to-Tonawanda family keeping ducks at their home.

The Tonawanda Common Council this week updated the code provision that bans livestock and fowl to include the terms “waterfowl” and “ducks,” in an effort to fend off future misunderstandings, City Attorney S. Michael Rua said.

“We received numerous complaints from neighbors,” Rua said Thursday. “It started with a bunch of ducks.”

In fact, after receiving reports that this family was later caring for a goat and sheep, city Building Inspector Erik Lindhurst sent them a warning letter. The homeowner was not cited after the violation was addressed.

It’s an unusual situation for the city, where reports of farm animals or fowl kept at private homes are rare, city officials said.

The most recent situations involved chickens, which are allowed in some other local communities, the city attorney said.

“People want to be urban farmers,” Lindhurst said this week. But, he added, “The City of Tonawanda is not a right-to-farm community.”