A family with six cats or six dogs might raise an eyebrow, but as long as the pets were kept responsibly, it's unlikely anyone would bother about it.
A fair number of people keep birds, ranging from parakeets and canaries to parrots, as pets. In some communities, in both the city and country, there are traditions of keeping pigeons, especially homing pigeons, in rooftop coops.
Rabbits make good pets, and for some people, the more rabbits the merrier. Mice, rats, snakes, large spiders, lizards, ferrets, monkeys and any number of other creatures are fairly easy to come by at pet stores.
It's probably fair to say in this country, what makes a good pet is in the eyes of the beholder.
Strangely, though, in the Aberdeen City limits, there is a prohibition against keeping chickens as pets. The issue came to light recently when the Turner family moved from Washington state to Chesapeake Court in Aberdeen, and then took on six chickens as pets.
The family was cited recently by the city for being in violation of the local anti-chicken law and Frank Turner showed up at a subsequent city council meeting to ask politely that the law be changed.
Though the city council was mum on the subject, the mayor pointed out that the city's code would have to be changed, a process that doesn't happen overnight. Turner subsequently offered any assistance the city was willing to take on the matter. The city then moved on to other business.
The city government should, however, take seriously Turner's request that the law be changed. While there are good reasons for limiting the numbers of many kinds of animals — from dogs and cats to pigeons — that can be kept in a single home, there's no good reason to single out chickens to be excluded from the list of pets a family can keep.
