They’ve got their ducks in a row

By Lethbridge Herald on November 27, 2025.

HERALD PHOTO BY JOE MANIO Retirees Laurel and Mitch Van Dyke hold their pet domesticated Roeun ducks Chasey and Chicken at their 12 Avenue North home Tuesday. After receiving a sole complaint from a disgruntled homeowner, Animal Control told Laurel Van Dyk last week that her pet ducks had to go citing, a city bylaw prohibiting ownership of poultry within citiy limits. On November 25, a judge ruled in favor of Van Dyk and her feathered "children" who now get to stay in their forever home, and also quashed the $300 fine issued by Animal Control.

Joe Manio
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Life is ducky once again for pet ducks Chasey and Chicken after running “afowl” of the law. 

The pair were in danger of being evicted from their home on the corner of 12 Street and 6 Avenue North where they live with retirees Laurel and Mitch VanDyk. 

Because of an anonymous complaint from a neighbour, City of Lehtbridge told Laurel VanDyk that the brother ducks had to go. The only option for her was to accept a $300 ticket and go fight in court. 

Meanwhile, she started a neighbourhood and online Change.org petition to fight for her “children,” who would not survive in the wild. 

“One complaint…one person can rule what a whole neighbourhood wants to keep,” says VanDyk. “And I’ve had every neighbour here sign the petition from Stafford Drive all the way up to 23rd, 28th Street.”

Chasey and Chicken had their day in court on Monday. However, unlike their ill-fated cousins at the Universal Ostrich Farms in B.C. — who lost multiple appeals all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada — it took only one local judge to rule in favour of the duck duo.

The ducks get to stay in their forever home and the judge also quashed the $300 fine. However, VanDyk wasn’t able to confirm who the complainant was because the judge summarily ruled in her favour. 

“It was a little bit annoying because I really wanted to get the disclosure on who made the complaint…though I have a feeling I know who it is. But at least it’s a happy ending for the duckies,” says Van Dyk.

The eighteen-month-old ducks came from a clutch of eggs ordered and incubated by a school. VanDyk adopted the brothers and learned they were domesticated French Rouens, a domesticated mallard-like duck that cannot fly and is generally raised for meat or as pets.

They can run, though, and Chasey got his name because he loves to chase his mom around the yard. Van Dyke says Chasey is much more bold than his aptly-named brother Chicken. 

The bonded siblings live a pampered life in a heated garage, with an insulated pen equipped with a heat lamp and deep water container for head dipping. They have an outdoor pool and are safely fenced in with ample room just to be ducks.

Chasey and Chicken are socialized, trained and quite chatty with each other. They’re especially vocal when visitors enter their yard. However, they are far from noisy and their quacks are easily drowned-out by any of the incessantly barking dogs nearby in the neighborhood.

“I live two doors down…the dogs who are…barking 24/7 are a bigger problem than anything these ducks could do,” says neighbour Raedyn, who signed the Change.org petition. 

“If animal control wants to do anything in the neighbourhood, it needs to be the dogs who are poorly cared for, instead of ducks who are clearly so loved. Once an animal is a pet and part of your family, it’s cruel for anyone to ruin that.”

Under city bylaws, no one is permitted to own “poultry” within city limits (poultry being explicitly defined to include chickens, turkeys, geese, and ducks).

According to Animal Services, the prohibition is because of “potential” community health concerns, nuisance issues for neighbors in populated areas and the specific poultry care needs typically associated with a ‘farm environment.’”

VanDyk says two pet ducks in a yard hardly constitute a farm environment, and with the exception of one complainant, Chasey and Chicken are not neighborhood nuisances. The judge apparently agreed.

“Previous people living here (before us) were running a puppy mill and no one complained about that,” says VanDyk.

Despite the happy ending, for VanDyk it’s not the end of the story. Like the B.C. ostrich owners who have vowed to fight to change the policies under which their ostriches were culled, VanDyk now wants to change the city bylaw and is currently seeking legal advice.

Meanwhile, life goes on for the ducks and VanDyk says if you visit Chasey and Chicken, come bearing grapes, which they both love.