Animal Ordinance Draws Whitehouse to Court
Posted/updated on: March 5, 2011 at 6:52 am
TYLER – A temporary restraining order has been issued that prohibits the City of Whitehouse from enforcing its new animal ordinance against Wild Rose Rescue Ranch. The order was issued this week from the 7th state District Court in Smith County. Wild Rose Rescue Ranch, a non-profit organization whose mission is to “rescue, rehabilitate and, whenever possible, adopt out to ‘forever homes’ lost, orphaned, injured or unwanted animals that would otherwise suffer.” The ranch had filed a lawsuit against the City of Whitehouse alleging that the city’s new animal ordinance is unconstitutional.
The ordinance, which was passed by the Whitehouse City Council last week, contains fifteen pages of regulations that, among other things, limit the number of animals that may be kept on private property within the city limits. It limits the number of dogs to four and states that the number of horses shall not be “in excess”. The lawsuit alleges that the ordinance is vague, ambiguous and unconstitutional because it does not define “excess” or state the number of horses that may be kept.
The lawsuit went on to say that Wild Rose Rescue Ranch had more than four dogs at the time the ordinance was enacted and that the four-dog limit amounts to a “retroactive” law which violates the Texas Constitution. The court set the matter for hearing on March 11 at 1:30 p.m.
