Council being asked to approve new animal control bylaw

By Lethbridge Herald on November 22, 2024.

Dogs play together at the Riverstone bark park on Thursday. The Safety and Social Standing Policy Committee of Lethbridge city council on Thursday heard a report on a new animal bylaw which it was asked to bring forward to council for first reading. Herald photo by Al Beeber

Al Beeber – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – abeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

The Social and Safety Standing Policy Committee of Lethbridge city council voted unanimously Thursday to recommend council approve a new animal care and control bylaw.

Council is being asked to give first reading on Dec. 10 and the final two readings at its Jan. 21 meeting to Animal Care and Control Bylaw 6475.

A report was made to the SPC by Regulatory Services general manager Duane Ens on Bylaw 6475.

The SPC consists of councillors Ryan Parker, Belinda Crowson and Rajko Dodic. John Middleton-Hope, who is also on the SPC, has taken an unpaid leave of absence from council to focus on his candidacy in the Lethbridge West byelection.

The bylaw was drafted to repeal and replace Dog Control Bylaw 5235, Wild or Domestic Animals Bylaw 3383 and Pigeon Bylaw 2609. It will come into effect on May 1 of next year if passed by council.

Cat regulations have been added to restrict the number of felines to six per household and for cats inflicting injury or creating a nuisance.

“We’ve put a lot of effort into this and lot of work and I hope this is pleasing to a lot of folks,” Ens told the SPC, naming numerous people involved in the process especially Director of Services and Enforcement for Community Animal Services Skylar Plourde who has overhauled operations with respect to care and adoptions as well as enforcement efforts.

A cat and dog micro-chipping program will also launch in 2025 which will provide a low-cost service to the public. The program is targeted mainly at cats to reunite owners with their lost animals and keep them out of the shelter.

A presentation to the SPC by Ens says City administration has formed a working group with hen advocates to present an urban hen pilot program to the SPC at a later date. A non-profit organization has been formed by a group of hen enthusiasts called Citizens of Lethbridge Urban Hen Chicken Club or CLUCC. This group is drafting a proposal that outlines the program details.

The report notes that an active local pigeon racing club still exists, and it requested regulations relating to those birds be left intact.

Ens’ presentation noted that the existing dog bylaw is more than two decades old and needed updates “to better reflect current practices, public needs and to address various “housekeeping” issues.”

The Wild or Domestic Animals Bylaw, meanwhile, was last amended in 1983. 

“One of the several advantages of consolidating these bylaws is providing

the public and enforcement authorities easier access to locate information related to municipal animal regulations,” says Ens’ report.

The new bylaw also has an objective of adding cat-specific regulations, a key focus being to limit the number allowed per household to promote responsible ownership.

Community engagement showed that 78.2 per cent of respondents to a survey support limiting cat numbers.

Ens told the SPC the limit doesn’t mean the City will be coming to remove a seventh cat but rather the plan is to see that maximum number be achieved naturally.

“If you have seven cats, we’re not coming after Snowball the day after this bylaw is presented. That’s not our intention. Our intention is to prioritize education in this area. We’ve also allowed legacy cats where property is not a cause for concern,” aded Ens.

“As part of our policy, we will not actively pursue enforcement against

households owning seven or more cats prior to the passing of the draft Animal Care and Control Bylaw 6475. This provision is added to primarily address and prevent cat hoarding situations, ensuring the welfare of both the animals and the community,” adds the report.

Of survey respondents, 79.3 per cent identified the need for provisions to regulate the control of owned cats that present a threat or create a nuisance.

The bylaw contains regulations and specified penalties for owned cats that defecate on others’ properties and for cats that injure a person.

“While investigating incidents of cats causing injury is quite rare, we have encountered a few situations where an owner’s cat attacked a member of the public,” says the report.

Cat licencing was considered but it was learned that compliance rates in other municipalities is low ranging from 11 to 16 per cent. Micro-chipping, the SPC was told by Ens, is an option to licencing.

Ens said micro-chipping is a unique element of the bylaw. The micro-chipping program will be operated by Community Animal Services on a cost-recovery basis with the cost being $30. Ens pointed out there will be no cost to the City and there are hopes that “this program will be embraced by the community and increase our efficiency to reunify lost pets and keep cats out of the shelter which is a significant cost savings,” said Ens.

Lethbridge is known for coming up with unique ideas and Ens said if passed hopefully the program will be another innovation that other communities will embrace.

Right now, there are about three per cent of cats being licenced voluntarily here but the hopes are the City will get close to the numbers of communities with mandatory licencing, said Ens.

 “We’ve got some sections in here where we regulate cat behaviour, however we’re not proposing mandatory cat licencing at this time. The reason why is our review of other cat licencing programs show the cat licencing rates remain really low” anywhere from 11 to 16 per cent with municipalities that have mandatory cat licencing, he said.

“While the desire for equitable licensing is understandable, the focus on dog licensing stems from the high-risk potential to public safety posed by dogs, necessitating their identification and holding owners accountable for any incidents arising,” says his report.

And a cat licencing program would cost between $168,600 to $300,000 annually depending on level of service with only a portion offset by the revenue generated from cat licence fees with Lethbridge not having the economies of scale of Calgary or Edmonton to bring in the revenue to cover those amounts, Ens said.

Plourde told the SPC “regulating cats like regulating dogs, a blanket regulation of those two animals, wouldn’t be effective and I’m referring to being at large.

“The current dog control bylaw says that your dog can’t be off its property unless it’s on a leash. That’s to prevent it from creating a nuisance or a threat to the community. The bylaw that we’re presenting you will see does not have a regulation specific to cats being loose in public. You’ve got two species, they inter-act with their environment difficulty and one is much harder to regulate than the other. We’re looking to use the tools that are in the current bylaw about cats creating a nuisance or a threat to members of the public.. . . We’re hoping that these tools will build on the work that’s already done about educating cat owners on keeping their cats on their property to protect their cats, to protect their environment, to protect the community,” said Plourde.