Rural Maryland Couple Fined Nearly $5K for Pet Rooster’s Morning Crowing

A rural Maryland couple is facing nearly $5,000 in fines for their pet rooster’s early morning crowing.

Drew and Jackie Tanenbaum live on a five-acre rural property in the Hereford Zone of Baltimore County and have a two-year-old pet rooster named Wilbur, who they say is a good egg, according to WBAL-TV. However, Wilbur has drawn the ire of one of their neighbors by doing what roosters do.

Drew Tanenbaum told WBAL-TV that the neighbor had asked the couple to get rid of their pet while also complaining to the county over the rooster’s crowing. County officials responded by issuing fines to the couple.

“The county has now issued us two citations, one for $150 and a second one for $4,650,” Drew Tanenbaum told the outlet. “It’s essentially $150 for every alleged crow that Wilbur makes that our neighbor was able to document.”

In response, the couple has organized a petition through Change.org that they will present in front of the county’s Animal Hearing Board with the goal of having both the case and the fines dismissed.

The Tanenbaums say their neighbors are new to rural living, contending that while they are free from city noises such as horns and loud music, they are not free from sounds such as farm equipment, chainsaws, big trucks, and rooster crows.

They also say there are no restrictions on having a rooster on a property as long as it is not a “nuisance.”

“Do not let this case set legal precedent allowing one complaining neighbor to threaten the rural and rooted-in-agriculture-lifestyle that so many of us in the Hereford Zone love,” Jackie Tanenbaum stated on the Change.org page.

The hearing over the rooster is scheduled for January 24th.

You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.