The last of Lancaster city's pigeon fanciers may get to keep their prized birds after all.

Encouraged by Mayor Rick Gray, the city Board of Health voted unanimously Monday at a special hearing to let longtime pigeon keeper John F. Kirchner Sr. keep his show pigeons on Cabbage Hill.

Kirchner and several others who raise pigeons in the city had been cited for keeping the birds or ordered to get rid of them in recent months.

Some have already sold or given away their pigeons. Kirchner was the first to push back.

In December, Karen Dinkel, the city's animal enforcement officer, said she was instructed to "remove the pigeons from the city."

She said most of the actions at the time had been complaint-driven but noted one city resident was told to remove pigeons after a coop was seen in his backyard by a city housing inspector.

"This is a dying thing," the 50-year-old Kirchner told the health board on Monday. "These birds helped me through a divorce, and they were there for me through a lot of things. They depend on me to survive.

"It's like a therapy thing, and it's a shame young people don't get into it."

Kirchner has raised, bred and trained fancy Jacobin pigeons and parlor rollers since he was a kid at the family home.

Cabbage Hill was long a hotbed for raising pigeons, especially among German families.

Now, he said, "There aren't many of us left."

Kirchner started by helping his late father, who began raising pigeons in 1958, and said he always dreamed of going to shows with his own prized pigeons with his dad.

His father died before that could become reality, but Kirchner went on to raise 44 grand champions with the National Pigeon Association and the Eastern Jacobin Association.

"That's my passion, and I love them," he said, adding that he does not make money from raising pigeons. "These birds are like family to me."

He said that he cleans his two backyard coops every day and vaccinates his birds. He said no one in his neighborhood has ever complained about his pigeons.

"My neighbors all enjoyed it," he said, adding that he sometimes takes his birds to schools for show-and-tell.

None of the birds is allowed to fly outside its cage. Parlor pigeons, in fact, aren't even capable of flying.

Through his attorney, David Wagenseller III, Kirchner asked the city for a waiver to the 1997 ordinance that addresses keeping of animals.

His application for the waiver notes that the ordinance allows "cage birds" without specifying types of birds other than chickens, which are banned.

The ordinance also allows for the possibility of a waiver if more than six animals of any type are involved.

Gray sent a letter to the health board on behalf of Kirchner, asking for a decision that "would accommodate both a long-term hobby and the safety and health of the surrounding neighborhood."

The mayor recommended that conditions be attached to make sure the coops are clean and sanitary, that the premises be periodically inspected and that Kirchner not move the birds to another location in the city.

Gray also wanted the health board to hold a hearing to give anyone in the neighborhood a chance to voice opinions or concerns.

The hearing had been advertised in the newspaper, but the only person that spoke was Jerry Michael, now of Manheim Township, who had raised pigeons on Cabbage Hill for 60 years.

Michael, who used to share birds with Kirchner, said he was once told by another pigeon fancier that his coops were cleaner than the observer's house.

At Kirchner's request, the limit on pigeons he may have was set at 75.

The city now will drop its citation against Kirchner, which was to go before a district justice.

Gray said Tuesday that the city never set out to make longtime pigeon lovers give up their hobby.

What now?

"If an existing pigeon fancier in the city seeks to retain their animals they will need to request a waiver from the Board of Health, similar to Mr. Kirchner," said Randy S. Patterson, the city's Economic Development and Neighborhood Revitalization director.

"The Board of Health will then establish any conditions, including the number of pigeons that can be kept."

Patterson said the 1997 animal ordinance does not contain any "grandfathering" provisions for keeping pigeons.

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