A Nigerian dwarf goat may inspire code changes in Holmes Beach.
City commissioners reached consensus Oct. 26 to explore allowances for emotional support animals at a work session after resident Roger Danziger asked them to consider a special exemption for his wife’s emotional support animal, a goat.
Danziger, a physician, said his wife, Debbie, became physically disabled in 2018 and has since dealt with depression and anxiety.
He said they got the goat to provide emotional support to Debbie.
Danziger said the goat behaves well, has never left their fenced-in property and, after being raised alongside the family dogs, behaves like one, too.
“Frankly, she probably thinks she’s a dog,” he said.
Danziger said city staff recently notified him of a complaint about the goat and that keeping livestock is prohibited by city code.
He said city staff suggested he seek petition signatures from neighbors showing the goat is not a nuisance to the community.
Danziger said he could contest classifying the goat as livestock due to its status as an emotional support animal but instead asked for a special exemption.
The commission did not vote on Danziger’s request but Commissioner Carol Soustek revisited the topic during officials’ questions and comments almost three hours into the meeting, calling it a “touching story” with “genuine appeal.”
Soustek said she wanted to further discuss the issue at a work session.
City attorney Patricia Petruff said the city adopted an ordinance allowing urban chickens, so the action is not unprecedented.
But Petruff stressed specificity, referring to an issue in another municipality that allowed pygmy pigs that became nuisances.
“We did the chicken bit, we can do the goat bit,” Soustek said.
“I support the goat in whatever way you can make that happen,” resident Gale Tedhams said during public comments at the end of the meeting.