Kentucky city commission to decide if goat is pet or livestock

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A central Kentucky planning board won't get Gale Warfield's goat, but the city commission might.

Officials in Frankfort are discussing whether goats are livestock or pets.

The issue came up in October when Warfield received a violation notice about the goat and duck she keeps as pets on her residential property. Warfield said the letter informed her that Szokie the goat had to go.

Then she received a second letter saying he could stay while officials decide what he is.

Last month, the city's planning commission proposed an amendment that would have allowed up to two farm animals to live in the city on land of five acres or more.

A public meeting on the proposed changes was scheduled last week but the meeting was canceled and the amendment withdrawn.

City planning director Gary Mueller said the City Commission would have to enact any changes. "The consensus of the committee is to recommend this to the City Commission, instead of amending any ordinance," he said.

Warfield said she's distraught because the situation is still unresolved.

"I don't know what to do from one day to the next," she said. "I'm at a loss for words on all this."

She'll plead her case one last time to the City Commission on April 28. If Warfield is forced to get rid of Szokie, she said, she'll try and find him a good home that will love and care for him.

"He's not a typical farm animal," Warfield said. "I don't want him to be sold to a stockyard for slaughter."