The Priest River City Council voted Monday to carve out a narrow exemption from the city’s existing poultry ordinance, allowing one local couple to keep seven male ducks they rescued from a nearby waterfall more than a year ago. The 2-1 decision, reached at the August 9 meeting, drew a pointed dissent from at least one council member who warned it could invite a flood of similar requests.
Rescue Prompts Ordinance Question
The ducks at the center of the debate were originally abandoned by a hobby farmer at McAbee Falls. Williams Sires and Tierra Plaster, a Priest River couple, brought the birds home in August 2025 after finding them without an owner. The animals were later spotted in the couple’s yard earlier this summer, which appears to have triggered scrutiny under Priest River City Code 515B — the municipal ordinance that bans chickens within city limits.
Sires, a military veteran and former Idaho State Trooper who now works as a stay-at-home father, and Plaster, who operates a mobile dog grooming business, argued the ducks posed no meaningful nuisance. Their yard is fully fenced, and all seven birds are male drakes, meaning they produce no eggs and no breeding population would result.
The couple requested a variance from City Code 515B, seeking formal permission to keep the animals they had already been caring for. The ordinance does not currently extend any allowance to ducks or other waterfowl — only chickens are addressed — and the existing chicken provision caps backyard flocks at six birds.
Council Divided on Precedent
Mayor Jeff Connolly voted in favor of the exemption and framed it as a matter of consistency. Connolly told the Bonner County Daily Bee, “We allow chickens and for some reason we’ve decided that it’s a good idea to have chickens so people can grow their own eggs. I don’t see a lot of difference here.”
The third council member’s vote was not specified in available information, but the measure passed 2-1.
Councilor Doug Wagner cast the lone dissenting vote and expressed concern about the broader message a personal exemption sends. “I think you’re opening a can of worms on this one,” Wagner told the Bonner County Daily Bee. “Somebody else out in town will have a different animal that wants to take care of.” Wagner’s worry — that other residents with unconventional animals might now expect similar accommodations — reflects a common tension in small-town governance between compassionate flexibility and consistent code enforcement.
The exemption the council approved is notably specific in scope. It applies only to Sires and Plaster personally, caps their flock at seven drakes, and travels with them if they relocate within the city. The council did not amend City Code 515B itself or extend any broader permission to other residents wishing to keep ducks or similar animals.
What Comes Next
The vote settles the immediate question for Sires and Plaster, who may now keep their rescued flock without further risk of code enforcement action. Whether the decision prompts a broader review of Priest River’s animal ordinances — or whether Wagner’s concerns prove well-founded as other residents bring similar requests — remains to be seen.
Small-city councils across North Idaho regularly wrestle with how to balance longstanding municipal codes against evolving resident practices around backyard animals, urban agriculture, and hobby farming. Priest River’s decision to handle the matter through a personal exemption rather than a code revision is one approach, though it places the burden of future case-by-case decisions squarely on elected officials. As Bonner County continues to grow and more residents arrive with varying expectations about land and animal use, councils in cities like Priest River, Sandpoint, and Ponderay may face more such requests in coming years.
The Priest River City Council’s next scheduled meeting will offer residents an opportunity to weigh in on whether the council intends to revisit the ordinance more broadly, or hold to the targeted exemption approach approved Monday.
For more on Bonner County local government decisions, see recent coverage of the Bonner County Commissioners filling the final Fair Board vacancy and the Sandpoint City Council’s move to eliminate downtown parking kiosks.