After having a Beekeeping Bylaw created and passed by Weyburn City Council in recent weeks, anyone who was hoping the City would make the required changes to the Animal Control Bylaw to allow for backyard chickens was maybe rather hopeful prior to last night's meeting.

Based on concerns expressed by the Weyburn Humane Society, and after consulting with other municipalities in the province, Council took the recommendation from the administration to deny the request for the changes.

While no other cities in Saskatchewan have a bylaw allowing backyard chickens, the town of Kamsack approved a backyard chicken project (which is for just hens, for eggs only) in 2020, but has since had no applications from its residents. And, while the Provincial Cities Act allows individual cities to create bylaws to allow for chickens, and a number of municipalities have had requests for such an allowance, Weyburn's City administration had to consider the risks and benefits before creating a repeal to the current Animal Control bylaw. 

Benefits to backyard chickens include sustainable food sources akin to gardening and beekeeping, as well as mental health benefits for chicken owners.

The City cited risks including potential smell and noise, increased wildlife and rodents in the City, risk of wildlife harming chickens, risk of disease and other public health concerns, the difficulty of enforcement, and lack of shelter availability.

Weyburn's Majesta Malcolm, who had presented on backyard chickens at the September 12th meeting, clarifying many of these topics in an effort to abate such concerns at that time, said the conclusion is disappointing.

"I think some of the concerns that they had didn't really make sense," she said. "When we're talking about things like disease from chickens, and like the comment regarding cross-contamination, the dogs and cats don't catch the same viruses and bacteria that chickens do. When it comes to bringing in wildlife, the wildlife is already here. Wildlife doesn't stick around unless it's got a meal. If there's no meals available, they're not going to stick around."

During the September 12th meeting of Council, Malcolm did clarify the chickens would be in coops, and not accessible to wildlife.

"I think that when we're looking at Weyburn as a whole and we're talking about predators and stuff, we have dogs and cats roaming everywhere. We see it every single day."

She said that attracting scavengers like rodents is just as easy to do when feeding dogs outside or having bird-feeders. 

"I think that there are so many precautions to take, and it's just so disappointing, because when we look around in Canada, we're the only province that doesn't do this, that has no backyard chickens. I can go to Vancouver and have chickens. I can go to Edmonton and have chickens. And so it's disappointing that they didn't give this community the opportunity to be a little bit more self-sustaining, to have a little bit more food security."

She said having some control when it comes to food is especially important with the price of groceries.