City of Powell decides to allow pet goat
The City of Powell has agreed to issue a permit to resident Venus Bontadelli that will allow her to keep her pet pygmy goat, Porsche Lane, in town. The city council, which had previously denied the permit, agreed to do so to settle a suit Bontadelli filed in federal court. Courtesy photo.
POWELL (WNE) — The Powell City Council barred a woman from keeping her pet pygmy goat in town last year, but after getting sued over its decision, the councilors are reversing course.
As part of a settlement reached on Thursday, the city agreed to issue an exotic pet permit to Venus Bontadelli for her goat, Porsche Lane.
“I think Powell recognized that there’s not really a good reason for keeping Ms. Bontadelli from keeping this little goat,” Bontadelli’s attorney, Austin Waisanen of the Pacific Legal Foundation, said in a Friday interview. The deal calls for the city to issue a five-year permit for Porsche Lane that could be renewed.
Bontadelli had originally requested a temporary permit while she and her family looked for a new home in rural Park County.
When they denied the permit for Porsche Lane last summer, council members said they didn’t believe the existing ordinance allowed them to permit goats in town — and they expressed worries about the precedent they might set by making an exception.
However, in a November suit filed in Wyoming’s U.S. District Court, Bontadelli and her attorneys contended the city’s permitting system lacked any objective standards and the council’s denial was “arbitrary and not rationally related to any legitimate governmental interest.”
Once the agreement is finalized, the suit will be dismissed and “no further proceedings before the Court in this matter shall be necessary,” the attorneys wrote.
While it’s not a part of the settlement, Waisanen said he’s gotten the impression that the city may decide to revisit its ordinance.
“I think the settlement recognizes that there’s some issues with the ordinance, particularly the due process issue we identified,” he said, “which is … government can regulate property and harmless uses of property but has to tell people what the rules are.”
Councilors could theoretically approve the settlement at their Monday, Jan. 19 meeting.
This story was published on Jan. 13, 2026.