FRESNO COUNTY – After a wave of opposition, the Fresno County Board of Supervisors has put its rooster-limiting law on hold.
Nearly a dozen residents spoke against the proposed ordinance at the Oct. 7 board meeting and even more wrote in to urge their county representative to vote it down. Supervisor Nathan Magsig, who introduced the ordinance along with Chair Buddy Mendes, said he met with residents on both sides of the issue over the last two weeks and felt there was an opportunity to make the law better.
“One thing for me that’s very important is anytime the county of Fresno introduces an ordinance, we want to be solving problems with that ordinance, not creating more problems with the ordinance itself,” Magsig said.
Although the ordinance was intended to curb cockfighting, inhumane conditions and excessive noise, community members said the limit of keeping just five roosters on their properties in Fresno County would hurt their livelihoods and cultural traditions.
The board ultimately voted 5-0 to not approve the ordinance originally passed on Sept. 23. Instead, Magsig proposed they form an ad hoc committee to address the issue and include the voices of all those involved — residents from the Hmong community, those impacted by noisy rooster neighbors and poultry hobbyists and breeders.
The ordinance came about after residents in Magsig’s district on the west side of Fresno County brought to his attention the excessive noise coming from properties with hundreds of roosters on them that were clearly being bred for fighting. People impacted by this once again spoke in favor of the ordinance, explaining that the noise continues at all hours of the day and makes the area unlivable.
“All I’m asking you guys is (to) take into consideration that my parents are in their 80s; they can’t just uproot themselves,” Yahira Chacon, whose parents live in Yokuts Valley, said.
While those who opposed the ordinance said they sympathized with this issue, Alan Gallegos, president of the Greater California Society of Poultry Fanciers, said the county should not punish law-abiding citizens “for a few problem people who have no respect for their neighbors.” Gallegos said most people who have roosters on their property are not raising them for illegal cock fights and do not have problems with their neighbors.
Fresno County is home to many poultry hobbyists who raise roosters for show, food and education. Residents explained why five roosters — or up to 24 with a permit — is too few to allow them to continue their hobbies, or, as some put it, their way of life.
For the county’s Hmong population, roosters serve as an integral part of cultural and religious ceremonies. Beyond limiting Hmong residents’ ability to practice their traditions, May Vang said the ordinance would have a devastating effect on their culture and their ability to pass those traditions on to future generations.
When the ordinance was first introduced, supervisors explained that most other counties in California have limits on the number of roosters residents can keep. Resident Carlos Acosta, who moved to a rural area so he could raise roosters and teach his young son responsibility, said the county shouldn’t just adopt anything that other counties are doing, however, because Fresno is different.
“We’re not a powerhouse, we don’t have construction, we don’t have all that, we have our agriculture, and the roosters are part of that, and that’s embedded — that’s why the Fresno State helmet has that ‘V,’” Acosta said.
Mendes and Supervisor Brian Pacheco, both farmers, said they understood why the ordinance would severely restrict people’s ability to continue raising poultry; however, they said there would need to be a discussion on the line between being a hobbyist and being a full-scale producer.
