RESEDA : New Complaints Spur Raid on Petting Zoo

Animal regulation officials Thursday raided a Reseda petting zoo, acting on complaints that some animals were ill or injured and that others received inadequate care.

After an hourlong inspection, Linda Menary, owner of The Farm, was ordered to provide twice as much shelter for 37 ponies, horses and oxen, and cleaner water for her fowl and goats.

Inspectors found an ox with deformed feet and ordered Menary to provide its medical history. They also ordered her to provide medical records for a goat with a broken leg that Menary said she gave away last week.

The raid was the latest in a long history of confrontations between Menary and the city of Los Angeles.

In December, the city denied Menary a permit to operate her petting zoo, located in a residential area, after receiving numerous complaints from neighbors who claim that it is a nuisance.

Menary ignored the ruling.

In March, animal regulation officials seized nine ponies and horses from another of Menary’s properties and arrested her on suspicion of cruelty to animals. Some of the animals had hoofs that had grown five to six inches too long.

Menary will go before a Los Angeles Superior Court judge Tuesday to try to get the horses back.

Two weeks after her arrest, Menary filed a $750,000 lawsuit against the city alleging that she was arrested without probable cause and that her ponies seized illegally.

Both Menary and her attorney, Hal Kippen, characterized Thursday’s surprise inspection as harassment.

“Obviously, there were no serious violations or else they would’ve seized something,” Kippen said. “It’s strictly harassment.”

Menary said that she changes the animals’ water every morning and that she would have a veterinarian examine the ox.

But she said she disagrees with the order to provide more shelter.

“I feel I have adequate shelter,” she said. “I may challenge the order depending upon what my veterinarian says.”