May 6, 2004

Address to Standing Committee on City Services and Budget: Re Animal control Services Strategic Plan:

Just before the last civic election COPE told Animal Advocates that

It does not support the mistreatment of animals and would ensure
animal welfare laws are in place to prevent the prolonged keeping of dogs in
yards, in pens, on chains, in garages, and in other forms of isolation.

This staff report gives us hope that we’re getting there.

As some of you may know, Animal Advocates Society has been requesting and suggesting improvements to dog welfare in the city since June 2001, when we presented the previous council with our report, "IT'S TIME!", in which we documented 40 dogs that were forced to live their lives in yards, in pens, on porches and in garages, most in mud and feces and flies, often without adequate food, water, or shelter, sometimes beaten, sometimes forced to live in dark garages. Our report supplied many references to expert opinion showing that isolated and desocialized dogs suffer terrible physical and psychological harm, and that those are the dogs, if they get loose, that most frequently savagely attack people, especially children. Our warnings have been borne out in many bites and attacks since, young Shenica White being the most seriously injured.

Ms White was attacked in December 2002 by two mastiff cross desocialized yard dogs. Two mastiff dogs and a Rottweiler live at 3494 Knight Street, a half block from Tyee Elementary School. This owner has had many dogs that Animal Advocates has documented in the last five years, all of them dangerous. The City and the SPCA know about these dogs. Since our report and our warnings, nothing has been done, not even after the Vancouver Courier ran a cover story on these three dogs and other dangerous dogs in Vancouver, based on our reports.

We have attached the photo of another dog in Vancouver that was beaten and forced to live in a filthy dark pen. The pound was complained to and reported the dog to the SPCA which said it would seize the dog if necessary. Nothing changed. And so a pound volunteer was forced to secretly remove the dog and rehome it. By not protecting chained and isolated dogs from cruelty, the City and the SPCA have put the onus on compassionate women to break the law and risk the wrath of a dog abuser to rescue dogs. This is immoral of the City and the SPCA.

Animal Advocates continues to document these dogs, now also using video, and we will soon be presenting the City with another report. But this time, thanks to your report, we have hope that something is going to be done to protect dogs from this cruelty and to protect people from this danger.

We fully support all the Strategic Plan’s proposals. Our letter to you describes our support in detail, but in brief we have long held the view that it is not a right for owners of large dogs in particular, to frighten away families from parks, and to allow their dogs to menace people and other dogs. Special Constables are necessary to keep control of irresponsible dog owners.

It goes without saying that all the improvements that can be made for dogs abandoned to the misery of a strange pound cell are welcome by Animal Advocates. We urge you to provide the funds for much more behaviour rehabilitation. We can vouch for the effectiveness of time in bringing dogs to adoptable condition – time, combined with a lot of love, exercise, socializing, and knowledgeable training.

It also goes without saying that dog owners should pay for dog control. We would only suggest the fee for an intact dog be far greater than for a sterilized dog. Statistics show that it is unsterilized male dogs that most frequently attack people. They also create discord among other dogs in parks and often cause fights. In order to encourage the sterilizing of dogs, the fee for a license for an intact dog ought to be as much, or greater, than the cost to sterilize the dog. In fact, it is worth considering making the license fee for an intact dog reflect the reality that the dog may be bred, and thousands of dollars can be made twice a year by selling pups. All intact dogs ought to be considered, de facto, breeding dogs.

But the part of the report that pleases us most is Issue and Action #3: Animal Welfare and Cruelty: This is what we have been working so hard toward and we welcome the possibility of the City adopting its own Standards of Care and Regulations. This gives us hope that new regulations around the keeping of dogs will not be purely ones of control (which usually make the dog suffer more by requiring penning, muzzling, and stronger chains), but will consider the welfare of dogs. We have said in the past and repeat now, do what is right for the dog and safety will follow. If dogs are not permitted to be kept in yards exclusively, many people who now only have dogs as guards will not want to bring dogs inside and will stop using dogs as guards. Many others will not get a dog in the first place if they are not allowed to treat it inhumanely. A time limit for allowing a dog in a yard, one that can easily be monitored, is the easiest way to discourage the cruelty and danger of keeping dogs outside.

The police should not have to add further risk of attacks by dogs to their already very risky jobs. In January this year a chained dog was shot by a police officer who could not see the dog properly in the dark. We sent a letter to Chief Constable Jamie Graham and to you at that time, that defended the officer’s actions and asked that the Vancouver Police support our request that chaining dogs be banned, which we have attached.

There are many more yard dogs in Vancouver and there is much more cruelty to dogs in Vancouver than you may be aware, but we know that yard dogs are frequently made ‘vicious” by beating with rods and hoses and hands and by starving. Fathers have been seen teaching their sons how to beat a dog. Do not permit yard dogs, and this source of cruelty will no longer be a blight on Vancouver’s reputation.

We ask that AAS be included in future stakeholder focus group workshops. We would like the opportunity to share our considerable database of research, and our experience and expertise.

Judith Stone,
Executive Director,
AAS