Shawano’s city attorney has sent notice to the owner of Anello’s Torch Lite that the restaurant must downsize its petting zoo to within the limits set by the Plan Commission 10 years ago.
Owner Rita Mondus was given until Sept. 5 to comply, however she has asked the Plan Commission to reconsider the issue.
The commission will convene at Anello’s, 1276 E. Green Bay St., for a tour on Sept. 4 before returning to City Hall for discussion of the petting zoo and other items on its monthly agenda. Plan Commission meetings usually start at 6:30 p.m., but city officials said it could be moved up to make time for the Anello’s tour.
The Plan Commission in April 2003 granted Anello’s a special exception to the zoning code to permit animals for exhibition in a Highway Business District under certain conditions.
According to minutes of that meeting, commissioners limited the number of animals that could be displayed to eight. They also limited the types of animals to include lambs, goats, alpacas, llamas, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, rabbits and “other similar non-threatening animals.”
Shawano police made an inventory of the petting zoo three weeks ago and counted 58 animals on the property, according to the police report, including a number of exotic animals.
The inventory followed an incident last month in which a 15-year-old Milwaukee girl reported being bitten by a fox at the petting zoo.
Mondus said in an interview last month the girl ignored signs stating the animals were not to be fed and put a piece of food into a pen where the fox was being kept.
The fox was destroyed and tested for rabies and the girl was started on anti-rabies vaccine as a precaution while test results were pending.
The Shawano County Health Department would not release the results of the rabies test, saying the information was confidential.
The fox bite, however, is apparently not the issue for the city, and the incident was not raised in City Attorney Tim Schmid’s letter to Mondus.
Schmid said in the letter that the petting zoo was in violation of the city’s zoning code for expanding the number and types of animals allowed beyond the conditions set down by the Plan Commission.
Schmid also noted a number of instances over the years when animals had wandered away from the petting zoo, requiring city police to retrieve them. According to Schmid’s letter, there were 16 such incidents over the years, including four since February.
According to police, no citations were ever issued in connection with the incidents.
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