LOS ANGELES : Estate Owner Ordered to Evict His 800 Ostriches
Siding with ruffled neighbors, a Los Angeles zoning panel this week ordered the owner of a seven-acre Chatsworth estate to get rid of his 800 or so ostriches and emus, calling the big, flightless fowl a nuisance.
The Board of Zoning Appeals ruling was a victory for about 30 neighbors in Monteria Estates who had complained about odors, dust and airborne feathers.
“The smell is there and it comes from one source: 800 animals urinating and defecating,” longtime neighbor Warren Berlinger told the board.
The board took the unusual step of ignoring a recommendation by a zoning administrator to merely limit to 195 the number of ostriches--the largest and strongest birds in the world--and emus, a similar but slightly smaller Australian creature.
Jay S. Bulmash, attorney for the estate’s owner, David Mohilef, said he plans to appeal.
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