A Cedarburg, Wis., man has been told his flock of poultry -- ducks, chickens, roosters and a goose -- must be gone by the end of the week.

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David Moga lost the final round of his struggle to keep the birds Wednesday night, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. He asked the town council to make an exception to the residential zoning code allowing him to keep the goose and maybe a few ducks and was turned down.

"Absolutely no mercy," a tearful Moga told the newspaper. "I'm going to have to get rid of them. It's a passing of our life. It's what we moved out here for."

Moga said he has been keeping poultry since he moved to Cedarburg 35 years ago, with verbal permission from previous generations of town officials. But neighbors complained in 2009 when some of his roosters escaped and roused them with 4:30 a.m. cock-a-doodles.

Jim Culotta, the town administrator, said officials had to enforce the zoning rules barring farm animals from residential neighborhoods.

After the newspaper ran a photo last weekend of Moga with his dogs, Culotta also sent him a reminder that their licenses must be renewed every year.