Lawsuit Challenges Limits On Keeping Animals As Impairment of Religious Freedom

Cecil Daily reported last Friday on a federal lawsuit field by a Chesapeake, Maryland man who has been ordered by Cecil County (MD) officials to get rid of his pet goat.  Under the county zoning code, a homeowner can keep animals, other than dogs and cats, only on property that is at least an acre in size.  However homeowner Craig Balunsat says that he needs his goat, as well as his six chickens and two ducks in order to practice his Native American religious beliefs. His lawsuit alleges that his "native American religious beliefs require the keeping of his pets as a balance of symbiosis and harmony between animals and humans, and his Messianic Judaism Christian beliefs coincide with this."