By Tina Comeau
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
A public meeting will be held on May 9 to get the public’s input on a draft dog bylaw that the town of Yarmouth is considering.
Things contained in the bylaw – which is still a working document – are expected to generate a variety of reaction. People will be angry. People will be pleased. People will be surprised.
At town council’s April 14 meeting, one councillor described portions of the bylaw as “life altering.”
“We’ll probably get hate mail,” acknowledged town CAO Jeff Gushue.
Town councillors did not want to proceed with a first reading of the bylaw until discussing it in more detail among themselves and with their solicitor. They also want the public to have its say so council can know what people like in the bylaw and what they would want to see changed. They also want to consult with the SPCA. The May 9 public meeting at the town hall will get underway at 6:30 p.m.
The town of Yarmouth has decided to toughen its existing dog bylaw following a savage attack by a pitbull on a Yarmouth woman last month. Friends of the woman say she was unrecognizable after the attack and that it is a miracle she survived.
The draft bylaw immediately sets out to define a “fierce and dangerous” dog, saying it is any dog that “is a Pit Bull Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier; Pit Bull, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Rottweiler or any dog of mixed breeding, which includes any of the aforementioned breeds.”
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It goes onto define a fierce and dangerous dog as any dog that:
• has attacked or injured a person;
• has attacked or injured an animal;
• in a vicious or terrorizing manner, approaches any person in an apparent
attitude of attack;
• is owned or harboured in whole or in part for the purpose of dog fighting; or trained for dog fighting; provided that no dog shall be deemed fierce or dangerous if it is a professionally trained guard dog while lawfully engaged for law enforcement.
• and, is kept for the purpose of security or protection, whether residential, commercial or industrial, of persons or property.
The draft bylaw does not ban any breed of dog, but it does say that owners of dogs that have been defined as being dangerous must, among other things:
• keep the dog muzzled and leashed at all times when it is off the owner’s property;
• when the dog is on the owner’s property, it must be either securely confined indoors or in a securely enclosed and locked pen or structure;
• and, there must be a sign displayed at each entrance to the property and building in which the dog is kept with a warning in writing, as well as with a symbol, indicating that there is a dangerous dog on the property.
The bylaw reads: “If the owner of a dog that has been designated as dangerous is unwilling or unable to comply with the requirements of this section after 14 days, the said dog shall then be humanely
euthanized by an animal shelter, animal control agency or licensed veterinarian. Any dog that has been designated as dangerous under this bylaw may not be offered for adoption.”
The bylaw also states that the owner of a dangerous dog who is unwilling or unable to comply with the provisions of the bylaw will have all current dog licences revoked, and no future dog licences will be issued for a period of five years.
But while the bylaw seeks to address the issue of fierce dogs, it also speaks to many other issues.
The bylaw aims to make sure that owners of dogs provide the animals with safe, sanitary and healthy living environments, and seeks to ensure that dogs are well cared for and treated.
It prohibits unrestrained dogs from being transported in the back of pickup trucks, which is a common practice.
Stating all dogs in a breed are dangerous is equal to saying if one person in a family has a criminal record everyone in that family is to be assumed to be a criminal.