Hamilton resident’s plea to keep pet ducks is denied

A west mountain resident will have to find a new home for her backyard pet ducks.

Lorraine Appleyard, who showed up at Hamilton city hall holding nine-year-old Quacker on Tuesday morning, has failed to convince the planning committee to exempt her from the city’s animal control bylaw.

Appleyard was seeking “clemency” for Quacker and Sunny to keep them “in the only home that they know.”

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Neighbour Jennifer Smith also appeared before the planning committee arguing that Appleyard’s ducks have created a rat infestation, forcing her to dismantle her greenhouse and to hire a pest control company while creating a “stressful, acrimonious relationship.”

Smith says she feels bad for her neighbour and the ducks and is “really sad that it came to this,” noting that their “children are friends and it’s just not a good situation.”

Hamilton has rejected the idea of allowing backyard chickens, ducks and other fowl twice within the last decade.

Prior to the committee’s decision to deny Appleyard’s request on Tuesday, Flamborough Councillor Judi Partridge concluded there’s a reason why council has voted “to keep animals that should be on a farm and in the rural areas, in the rural areas.”