OLDS — Town council has given first reading to an animal bylaw which may court some controversy.
Among other things, it would increase the amount of dogs or cats on a premises to six and require all pet owners to obtain licences for the lifetime of their pets. Current licences would be grandfathered.
The bylaw says any person found guilty of contravening it on summary conviction could face a fine of $50 to $2,500.
The limit on the number of dogs would not apply to dogs under the six months of age and “if a person has a valid business licence and development permit to operate a kennel facility, veterinarian clinic or hospital, animal breeding establishment, pet store, temporary dog show, humane society, or other similar approved business activity.”
Senior community peace officer Sgt. Paul Wright gave an overview of the bylaw to council during its Feb. 12 meeting.
Councillors were split in their reaction to it.
The bylaw is expected to come back to council later for final approval.
Wright said the purpose of the bylaw is to “aid in promoting the well-being of animals, ensuring public safety, fostering responsible pet ownership and enable easy navigation of bylaws for citizens.”
Wright said the key areas of focus in the bylaw are animal licenses, number of animals per household, cat traps, abandoned stray dogs, barking dogs and vicious animals.
“Those are the ones that have kept cropping up ever since I've been here,” he said.
In regard to the lifetime pet licence, Wright said his research indicated several communities in Alberta are doing that.
He said the price of that licence could fall if dog owners did things like have their pet spayed or neutered and have a microchip installed.
Wright said the decision to hike the number of dogs allowed in a household from three to six was done because many homes in the community already have that many dogs.
As for cat traps, “we used to give out cat traps for people that had cats that are in their back garden,” Wright said.
He said the problem with that is the town found itself with cats that could not be repatriated with an owner and the town had no place to put them all.
Councillors Wanda Blatz and Heather Ryan raised concern with the idea of raising the limit on the number of dogs allowed.
Blatz said the town already has issues with barking dogs as well as complaints about the odours from feces.
She said some have people have even tried to poison other peoples’ pet dogs.
“The most recent was last week, where someone threw rat poisoning and grapes over the fence and tried to poison someone's family pet. So what avenues do those people have,” she asked.
Wright said he saw that incident reported on Facebook, however, it was not reported to his office.
“I would say the best course of action is just report it to municipal enforcement and we can start an investigation on that side of things,” he said.
“I agree,” mayor Judy Dahl said. “If we don't hear anything about it, then how can we help?”
Wright said he’s not beholden to six dogs. The number could be four or five if council so desires.
Ryan noted she’s been a dog owner for “many, many years.”
She not only raised concerns about the smell, but also noise, unsightly properties and concern for the health of those animals.
Ryan doubted there’s enough room in the average Olds property for “six dogs or even six cats in a house” and questioned the ability of anyone to control six dogs in an off-leash park.
She wondered how the lifetime licence would work for someone who moved into town with a dog as old as 12 years for example.
“Would it be lower as the dog gets older,” she asked.
Wright said no. That would be just too complicated for municipal enforcement to keep track of.
Coun. Darren Wilson wondered what can be done about abandoned or stray dogs and whether perhaps vets could offer discounts for owners who have their animals spayed to keep that population down.
“There's no easy solution to that problem, unfortunately,” Wright said.
Wright said last year, municipal enforcement tried to place animals in shelters as far away as Brooks and beyond Red Deer, to no avail.
“We tried, I think, about 16 different animal shelters. And we were either drawing a complete blank on space available or were put on a six-month waiting list, which then means that we have to house the animal for six months. And obviously we don't have facilities to do that,” he said.
Wright said the department does offer a program to assist people with spay and neutering of animals.
“Obviously, with the dogs it is more expensive,” he said.
“And then, if we take a dog in that has been abandoned in town, those costs can ramp up very quickly.
“Because invariably, we have to put that dog through a vet first, get his shots, get it all fixed before we then send it on to a shelter, so that money can go up exponentially.”
Chief administrative officer Brent Williams said the limit of six dogs does also provide the ability for dog owners with fewer than that number to maybe foster one or two strays.
Ryan liked that idea and suggested a list of dog owners willing to do so could be drawn up “rather than a having a whole town-wide (limit) of having six dogs.”
Coun. James Cummings said there are sections in the bylaw to deal with issues like waste and yards so the number of pets kept per household isn’t a big concern for him.
“So two cats, six cats, 12 cats, I don't care. As long as it fits into all of the rest of the bylaws,” he said. “This limiting the number of cats just means that people who want more cats are going to break the bylaw, period.”
His other concern is a need to control the number of stray dogs and cats in the community.
“Stray cats kill birds, and rodents in our community; unimaginably large numbers of birds and cats,” Cummings said.
“Every study I've ever read and found online shows that they are just brutally effective hunters in our communities.
“I do not support not trying to wrangle and control our feral cat populations.
“In every community I've lived in in this country, I've never seen as many feral cats; and I've lived on the coast right next to the ocean where there are tons of feral cats.
“But there is an incredibly large number of colonies of feral cats in our community. And it is killing our wildlife. It's disastrous to our other wildlife.”
Cummings conceded that it’s expensive and time-consuming to try to control the populations of stray cats and dogs.
However, he said since finding homes for them may be a problem, perhaps they could be caught, then spayed/neutered.
“They'll be there for a few more years until they die off, but they're not breeding 12 kittens every year or every six months,” he said.
Cummings said if stray dogs “aren’t taken off the street immediately, become more and more feral over time, to the point where they become dangerous.”
“I don't want to see rampant dangerous feral dog packs running through the community.”
Coun. Harvey Walsh liked the proposed bylaw.
“(There’s) a common sense in it,” he said. “Kudos for coming up with it.”
Walsh said the focus on promoting responsible ownership is key to controlling the pet population and accompanying issues.
“It's the irresponsible owners that create the problems. So, you know, the numbers don't bother me,” he said.
He agreed that feral cats and dogs can be an “issue,” but said Cummings’ suggestion on how to control that population would just be way too expensive.
“We need a way to hold those people accountable for not looking after an animal that they buy, own or inherit. That would be my first avenue of promoting responsible ownership,” Walsh said.
