Board rejects plan for Westport animal registry site

The Agricultural Commission last week voted 8-0 against the health board adopting an animal site registry to better track livestock and other farm animals.

WESTPORT — The Agricultural Commission last week voted 8-0 against the health board adopting an animal site registry to better track livestock and other farm animals.

The commission also voted to further define what constitutes a tenant or “plot farm” while voting to encourage the health board to look into further regulating tenant farms.

Commissioners argued that a registry would only add more regulations for farmers and do little to alleviate animal abuse or neglect. Commissioner Carole Mann pointed out that the same Medeiros tenant farm on Route 177 was the site of widespread animal abuse and neglect on two separate occasions — in 2010 and 2016. She and other commissioners argued that it is these plot farms that deserve extra scrutiny.

“The (state) farm bureau said just regulate the problem. Why overregulate. You can overregulate later,” Agricultural Commission Chairman Ray Raposa said.

The commission vote came after a joint meeting the previous week between the Agricultural Commission and the Board of Health. It also comes amid the health board contemplating whether it should adopt a registry to help officials keep better records of livestock and after animal activists have pushed for a site registry while stressing that such a registry is used in other communities and could prevent animal cruelty.

The registry has drawn support from some health board members, as well as Selectmen Chairwoman Shana Shufelt, who also chaired the now disbanded Animal Action Committee, which proposed the registry.

Shufelt argued recently that lost livestock often take up time for first responders. She told the health board recently that a lost animal could easily be identified and brought back to its owners, saving time, energy and town resources.

Agricultural Commissioners contended that there were rules and regulations in place two years ago, yet a landmark animal abuse case still was uncovered on Westport soil. They questioned if a site registry would fix a potential abuse issue.

“Why make a regulation that has no funds and no plans to inspect,” Raposa said, adding that the site registry would require small, backyard chicken and livestock owners to fill out more paperwork.

He argued that some might neglect to fill out the form and then draw fines or other scrutiny from town officials.

Raposa said according to data, the registry would affect one in 10 Westport residents.

The commission defined a tenant or plot farm as two or more people leasing land on the same property and engaging in some form of animal husbandry. They voted 6-2 to send that definition to the health board but conceded that the board might not adopt that definition.