Amy Martin took to the lectern earlier this month wearing a “Mama Bear” sweater and spoke directly to city officials sitting in front of her in Bangor, Maine.
He was there to speak on behalf of his 25-year-old son, C-Jay Martin, who has experienced deep anxiety and depression since the pandemic. The emotional support chickens they had at home, he told them, had provided comfort to Mr. Martin, who is blind and has epilepsy and autism.
a city ordinance, however, prevented residents from owning birds, so on October 5, Ms. Martin attended the appeals board meeting and defended keeping them as pets. Chickens, she argued, could cheer up her son.
After meeting more than an hour, board members unanimously agreed. They voted to allow Ms. Martin and her son to keep chickens at home, in a decision that has resonated far beyond the city of about 30,000 residents, earning praise from advocates for people with disabilities and their neighbors.
Other town residents spoke in favor of Ms. Martin’s chickens, trying to persuade the board to make an exception.
One neighbor, Martha Gladstone, wrote in a letter to the board that while dogs leave feces on the lawn and neighborhood cats dig in flower beds, “the chickens sit still.”
“Wouldn’t it be nice to bring a little joy to the life of someone who has suffered all their life?” she wrote.
The decision has also highlighted the unexpected comfort and emotional support that chickens provide to patients, because they require less maintenance and daily attention than other pets, but are equally docile and affectionate.
Mr. Martin was already in love with his flock of six chickens, whose names are Popcorn, Cheek, Stella, Salty (she is known to have an attitude and cluck at others), Pepper, and her sister, who does not yet have a name. A “SpongeBob SquarePants” reference is being considered.
“It’s worth everything we had to go through” to keep them home, Martin said in an interview.
She first approached city officials in February to ask permission, but by March she was upset at how long the process was taking and decided to go ahead and buy them for her son, whose anxiety hadn’t improved much.
Jeff Wallace, code enforcement director for the city of Bangor, said there was no mechanism for him or the city attorney to immediately approve Ms. Martin’s request. The appeals board was the only way, he claimed.
“From day one, if I could have, I would have,” Wallace said.
Ms Martin said she had felt pressure to act quickly because her son, who is immunocompromised, had felt extremely isolated during the Covid-19 pandemic and those feelings had not improved much in January. He remained withdrawn and introverted, nothing like the sociable and gregarious person he had been all his life.
Ms Martin said she had started researching what might help and had read about emotional support animals, particularly the usefulness of chickens. They were known to help people with autism establish a routine and encourage responsibility, creating a sense of autonomy, she said.
Dr. Leela MagaviA psychiatrist in Newport Beach, California, said that while chickens are rarely the animal of choice, they are beneficial for many people with autism who struggle with social anxiety, he said.
Chickens help with social communication because people often want to visit them to look at them, and they give patients something interesting to talk about, Dr. Magavi said.
“They also feel confident that they are taking care of others, and it’s like a sense of altruism that really helps with dopamine and happiness,” Dr. Magavi said. “And it creates a sense of motivation and responsibility.”
Mrs Martin said she noticed immediately how the chickens helped her son. The first day she had them as chicks, Mr. Martin stood by his cage, gently petting them and holding each one in the palm of his hand.
Martin said he had finally moved the chickens to his fenced backyard, where they could roam freely and have a coop and greenhouse to stay warm and dry during the winter.
If there is a spider inside the house, it likes to bring a chicken to eat it.
Their dog, Marley, loves them too.
“She acts like a guard dog for the chickens,” Ms. Martin said.
Seeing how much Mr. Martin had improved since getting the herd, Mrs. Martin sought the support of more neighbors before the appeals board meeting.
On the day of the meeting, several spoke out in favor of Mrs. Martin’s chickens, trying to convince the board of directors.
“They’re not a nuisance,” said one neighbor.
“Chickens are friendly,” said another.
“I brought them a bag of chicken feed instead of a bottle of wine,” said a third neighbor hoarsely, wondering how “with all the evil and unrest in this world,” wasn’t this a simple and right thing to do? do?
Your support worked.
Two days after the meeting, there was a sign, Ms. Martin said, that everything would be okay.
Pepper the hen laid an egg.
