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You can still love dogs in Ogden, you just can't own more than two of them. A new city animal ordinance restricts the number of pets you can own and some people aren't happy with the new laws.
It's a law that was passed with some controversy this week. Now you can't have more than six animals in your house, which means dogs, cats, or ferrets. In fact, you can't have more than two dogs or two ferrets, the new animal that's now legal in Ogden.
Stef Butte: "It was a very outdated law and it's about time."
The first thing you notice when you walk into Stef's Animal Attractions in Ogden is how excited they are to finally be allowed to have ferrets.
Stef Butte: "They're very similar to a kitty cat actually."
Stef Butte is the owner of this store, and says now that ferrets are legal in Ogden, more people will be interested in the little long guys.
Stef Butte, Stef's Animal Attractions: "You can litter box train them. They can run around your house. You can cage them or not. They're awesome little pets."
But while she's happy Ogden is allowing ferrets, she's not too happy that you can only own two of them. Same for dogs now.
Stef Butte: "They don't take size into account or anything. A two-pound Chihuahua shouldn't count the same as a 160 pound rottweiler."
It's the type of complaint City Council worker Sue Zampedri gets all the time.
Sue Zampedri: "There's been a lot of correspondence."
She has hundreds of pages in her folder, all public comments, about the new animal ordinances. Some negative...
Sue Zampedri: "This has been pretty controversial, but hopefully, we've helped those residents out there that have had concerns."
And some positive….
Sue Zampedri: "Responsible pet owners and also for the protection of the animals."
Still, Butte feels limiting your number of pets will either mean residents will break the law or animals will have to be let go.
Stef Butte: "There are thousands of cats euthanized every week, and to lower the rate of how many cats you can have will be deadly to a lot of animals."
Those pet owners who have more than the limit now will be grandfathered into law, meaning they can keep their pets, but can't buy more. |
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