Your proposed pet, domestic and farm animal laws would clearly make it illegal for residents to house small pet reptiles and amphibians in tanks in their homes because they have a very small piece of property, and many people are certainly not fifty feet from their property lines in any direction.
Please explain if the village would come after people for fish, reptiles, amphibians, rabbits or guinea pigs living in enclosures inside the home if they are closer than fifty feet away from a property line. Many Croton neighbors and residents keep these types of small animals, which are perfectly legal to own and can be purchased at most pet stores and the Reptile Show that happens four to six times a year at the Westchester County Center.
I highly recommend you remove the section in your proposed law as many people all over Croton and Westchester County own and enjoy these pets. It’s a ridiculous, highly restrictive, and totalitarian law, and just because members of the BOE don’t own reptiles or small animals like this doesn’t mean they should attempt to ban them legally from small homes or apartments. Please change or throw out your proposed law.
The law is poorly written, stating that anyone with a pet other than a dog or cat closer than fifty feet from property lines is breaking the law. I would recommend the board and the lawyer reword it so that the law applies to outdoor animals only, being housed outside, and not indoor pets living inside homes.
Does the village plan on coming into people’s personal homes, bedrooms and private spaces, measuring out the property lines from tanked-animals’ enclosures? If they are closer than fifty feet from the property line, will they then be made to remove or kill the animal to comply with this nonsensical village law?
Who dreams up these poorly written laws designed to punish people for no reason?
—Jessica Dieckman
INTRODUCTORY LOCAL LAW NO. 10 OF 2026
§230-40 J. Keeping of Animals
(1) the keeping of domestic animals for individual domestic purposes or as pets, provided that no
domestic animals, except dogs or cats, shall be penned or housed within 50 feet of any lot line.
I’m glad she posted this letter. People have no clue what is going on. What a poorly written law. This seriously cannot pass.
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