THOUSAND OAKS : Ordinance Will Ban Loud Animal Noise

Thousand Oaks residents with noisy pets had better beware of a new “anti-squawking” ordinance, city officials say.

An ordinance adopted Tuesday night by a 4 to 0 vote of the City Council bans “crying, whining, screeching, squeaking, squawking or any other noise emitted by an animal.”

The law allows the city to keep the peace in neighborhoods where some of the more exotic members of the animal kingdom reign, City Atty. Mark G. Sellers said. That includes talkative parrots and yapping dogs.

Over the past year, the city has received at least two complaints from residents about noisy animals. However, city officials were unable to enforce a gag order because there were no laws against it, Sellers said.

“We had an ordinance for barking dogs, but we don’t have an ordinance for squawking birds,” he said.

Mayor Frank Schillo, a dog owner, said he thinks felines should also be prevented from waking up the neighbors. “I asked them to add ‘yowling,’ for cats,” he said.