Residents of a small Maine town rallied together to help a man keep his emotional support chickens despite a city law banning them. They won.

• Amy Martin got six emotional support chickens for her son, C-Jay, in April, USA Today reported.
• She told WaPo they help him cope with anxiety, depression, and social isolation.

Residents of a small city in Maine rallied together to help a local man keep his emotional support chickens after a six-month long fight.

The chickens belong to Amy Martin's son, C-Jay, a 25-year-old from Bangor, Maine. She got her son the feathered friends to help cope with anxiety, depression, and social isolation that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, Martin told The Washington Post.

C-Jay Martin has autism, epilepsy, and an eye condition called anophthalmia, his mom told the Post and USA Today. Martin had read online that chickens had helped people with autism, and she hoped their chatter would provide soothing background noises for her son.

The chickens helped C-Jay do a "180 back to himself" when she got them in April, Martin told USA Today.

But the win was short-lived. Bangor doesn't allow backyard chickens within the city — and despite a note from C-Jay's doctor endorsing the therapy animals, it took several rounds of appeals and calls to city officials for Martin to get clear answers, the Post reported.

The decision came down to a single meeting with the Bangor Board of Appeals earlier this month.

Several residents showed up to support the Martins, the Post reported, giving statements on the importance of the chickens to C-Jay and his mother.

"Amy is really, really responsible, so I know she's keeping things appropriately stored and keeping public health in mind," neighbor Imke Jandreau said, per the Post. "If this is what he needs to thrive, let's be supportive of it."

The board voted unanimously to let the Martins keep their chickens, the Post reported.

Martin said she and her son are relieved the fight is over, and that the chickens continue to provide invaluable support to C-Jay.

"When he's sitting outside listening to an audiobook, or just hanging out in the backyard [with] the sun shining, he always knows where they are because he can hear them," Martin told USA Today. "He's never really alone."