Faith Kilburn and Her 18 Dogs Lose Most Recent Battle With West Hartford
April 14th, 2009 categories: Central Connecticut News & Information, Pets & People
Faith Kilburn is the owner of 18 (formerly 22) shih tzu dogs and she lives in West Hartford, CT. The problem is West Hartford has an ordinance restricting the number of dogs in a residence to no more than two. More than two dogs? You need a special permit to have a kennel.
Ms. Kilburn applied to West Hartford to get a variance but was denied. West Hartford was prepared to begin fining Ms. Kilburn at $42/day until she either moved or got rid of the dogs. Clearly attached to her dogs and capable of caring for them, Ms. Kilburn put up a fight.
She took her case to Superior Court and lost. She took her case to the state Appellate Court who upheld the previous decision. According to the Hartford Courant’s article, Ms. Kilburn is considering her options.
I clearly have an opinion about this. Actually, I have several.
Let me preface my thoughts by saying that I lived in West Hartford for many years and have worked with many clients who have bought and sold homes in town. West Hartford has many positive attributes.
However, if you’ve ever lived in West Hartford, you know that you need a permit to do anything except eat and sleep. West Hartford loves rules. And in particular, West Hartford loves zoning regulations. In defense of the town elders, you can’t have a town that is so diverse and populous without having rules.
However, some rules need an exception. And some laws are ridiculous.
I understand that the town doesn’t want to have hoarders or dog breeding facilities in the tightly packed neighborhoods of West Hartford. Ms. Kilburn seems to be neither. Her house is larger than the average house in town. She lives there alone with her 18 ten-pound dogs in what is by all accounts, an immaculate home. Her dogs aren’t left outside to bark incessantly.
So, Ms. Kilburn’s only crime is that she has too many dogs. How many of you out there have too many children? Too many cars? Too many televisions? Who says what’s too many?
I have three dogs and choose to take really great care of them, rather than spend my money on other things. If I want to have three dogs and as long as I take care of them and they’re not a menace to the neighborhood, then why can’t I?
I’m sure everyone can agree that if Ms. Kilburn were mistreating the dogs, running a commercial breeding operation out of her home or if the neighbors were complaining, then Ms. Kilburn would be in the wrong.
But just the opposite is true - the dogs are well taken care of, she is not breeding them and from what I could find, just one neighbor did complain but only because she was breaking the law, not because the dogs were a nuisance.
Now that the case has gone on for so long, I doubt West Hartford will back down. Ms. Kilburn will either have to keep fighting (long enough for her dogs to pass away), move, pay the fines or give up/euthanize her dogs. All of these options are unfair to Faith and her dogs.
West Hartford could possibly be the least dog friendly town in Connecticut.
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I beg to differ with you. I also live in West Hartford and am familiar with Faith Kilburn’s neighborhood. You are correct that the town has very strict guidelines which maintain order. That is why many of us choose to live here.
I have a dog as well and do believe that anyone that owns twenty two dogs, regardless of their size, is a hoarder. I’m glad that she is keeping them clean and fed but she can’t possibly give that many animals the attention that they individually deserve. And, she knew the zoning regulations BEFORE she made the decision to violate them. I don’t feel sorry for her- I feel sorry for the dogs that have survived.
According to the Humane Society of the United States, an animal hoarder is any person who has more animals than they can care for. From everything I’ve read, this case is not hoarding. If the dogs aren’t being harmed, the neighbors appear to be on the owner’s side, and the owner can care for the animals, then why can’t she keep them? Just who does it bother?