LIVERMORE FALLS — The Select Board has tasked the Planning Board with possibly developing an ordinance governing livestock in the village area.

Animal Control Officer Kenneth Pelletier told selectmen at their May 21 meeting that in the past 90 days he received 45 to 55 complaints, six of them about goats.

“We have a lot of goats,” he said.

There are four places in the village that have goats.

His inspections have shown the animals have shelter, food and water and are well cared for, he said.

“Anybody that calls me, I have to go check it out,” Pelletier said. “There is nothing I can do.”

There are no town ordinances regarding livestock.

“I really don’t know what to do about the goats,” Pelletier said, with state laws giving people the right to feed themselves.

There are state laws on the “Right to Farm” and an amendment to the Maine Constitution addressing the “Right to Food” which the Planning Board will need to consider.

“It sounds like they are taking advantage of the right to farm and the right to feed yourself,” Selectman Bruce Peary said.

Selectmen asked the Planning Board to look into developing a livestock ordinance for the village area.

In addition to the goats, there are complaints about chickens and pigs, and about odors.

There are also stray cat and dog issues, including fights and bites, Pelletier said.

He said he expects to get a chip reader so he can track down owners of dogs and cats with a digital chip and won’t have to take the strays to the shelter in Augusta.

He warned people that if they feed the strays, they won’t go away.

Pelletier’s full-time job with the town is caring for buildings and grounds, working at Public Works and the Transfer Station. He said his wife has been helping him with animal issues because he can’t keep up.

Selectman Vice Chairman Jim Long said a couple of residents asked him about extending the Property Maintenance Ordinance from the village area to the entire town.

The village area is defined by the Jay town line on the north, the Androscoggin River on the west, the Central Maine Power Co. right-of-way on the east, and on the south by an an east-west line from the river to the power lines and encompassing all properties abutting Gilbert Street, the south loop, according to the Property Maintenance Ordinance.