True love

[Meli]

Baa-d news as pet owner loses $150,000 Supreme Court sheep battle

April 30, 2012 - 10:38AM



A Melbourne man has lost a court battle to keep his beloved pet sheep Baa on his suburban property.
Vu Ho argued in the Victorian Supreme Court that the City of Greater Dandenong had no power to fine him or order the removal of the sheep from the property.
But Justice Cameron Macaulay today ruled the council did have the power to make local laws concerning the keeping of animals.
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Lawyers for the City of Dandenong asked that costs be awarded against Mr Ho.
But Justice Macaulay adjourned the matter to allow lawyers for Mr Ho time to read the judgment before they made submissions on costs.
Outside court Mr Ho said an appeal was likely. He said legal costs including his own and those of the council were already more than $150,000.
‘‘(Baa) is a member of my family and I have to help her until the end of all of my capacity,’’ he said.
The electrician was fined $220 in February last year and ordered to remove his pet of 11 years under a council law against keeping livestock on land under half a hectare.
Mr Ho's solicitor Don Gibson told the Victorian Supreme Court earlier this month the council's animal laws were unclear, contradictory and at odds with the municipality's planning scheme.
While the council says its law classifies sheep as livestock, the animal could in fact be classed as a pet under the planning scheme, Mr Gibson unsuccessfully argued.
Mr Ho said he would "do whatever I can to protect" Baa.
"My sheep has nowhere to go, because I’m poor. I’ve got no farm or whatever, just a house and my workshop," he said.




Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/environment...#ixzz1tWkINPM5

[Ian McColgin]

I'm with Mr Ho: If it sleeps in the house, it's a spouse, child or pet.

[Mad Scientist]

The Halifax council managed to stop debating the cat-control bylaw just long enough to outlaw poultry being kept in our municipality.

I want 'None Of The Above' on the ballot in the next election.

Tom

[skuthorp]

I think the problem for the council is the cultural practice of home slaughter in suburban back yards. Dandenong has many communities that practice this regardless of regulations. It's not a new problem.

[S.V. Airlie]

Wonder if he had to get rid of his kilt too.

[Spin_Drift]

Sorry to hear it. Pet that he has had there for 11 years should have been "grandfatehered" in so it could live the rest of its life with its beloved family. Then no more sheep after that.

[Captain Intrepid]

What we consider pets is rather arbitrary. More than once I'd have been quite happy to go and slaughter some yappy little crap of a dog polluting the neighbourhood with it's incessant barking. Either legalize the responsible noncommercial ownership of any animal, or make em all illegal.