Wyoming woman sues city over unfair pet permit  process

Powell, Wyoming; November 4, 2025:  A Wyoming woman filed a lawsuit today challenging a local permitting scheme used to prohibit her from keeping her pet pygmy goat, Porsche Lane. Venus Bontadelli alleges that the City of Powell’s standardless process for granting or denying “exotic pet” permits violates her right to due process. 

“This isn’t just about one miniature goat,” said Austin Waisanen, attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. “More and more ordinary uses of property are subjected to discretionary review. When a city sets up a permitting process, it has to have standards. It can’t leave people to the mercy of government officials’ whims.” 

Porsche Lane was gifted to the Bontadelli family as a graduation present for their teenage daughter and has lived peacefully in their home ever since. Despite being a domesticated miniature breed under two feet tall—quieter and cleaner than many dogs—the City forced the family to seek a special “exotic pet” permit to keep Porsche Lane. The City then denied their request without any standards, reasons, or legitimate public safety grounds. 

Powell’s ordinance bans so-called exotic pets unless the police chief—and, on appeal, the city council—grant special permission. But the City provides no rules, criteria, or guidelines explaining who can receive a permit or what standards apply. Instead, officials have complete discretion to say yes or no, without justification. 

The lawsuit argues that Powell’s permit scheme violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process guarantees by allowing officials to deny permits based on personal preference rather than objective, lawful criteria. The suit seeks a court order allowing the family to keep Porsche Lane and requiring the City to adopt fair, constitutional standards if it chooses to maintain its permit system.  

Pacific Legal Foundation represents Venus Bontadelli free of charge. The case is Venus Bontadelli v. City of Powell.