Dear Councillor Jordan,

I attended the Burnaby City Council meeting on Monday night as a show of support for Judy Stone and Animal Advocates of BC. It was reassuring to hear Councillors take the issue of animal cruelty seriously. Thank you and your fellow councillors for your willingness to take a closer look at animal rights and for understanding that an anti-tethering bylaw is only one piece of a very complicated puzzle.

As Ms. Stone pointed out, there are many yard dogs in Burnaby and the Lower Mainland that are not chained but are still terribly neglected and socially isolated. A dog that lives it whole life locked outside of a house, forced to live in a pen, under the stairs, on the patio, in a garage or left to roam around a backyard without proper socialization is still a risk to public safety. A yard dog that accidentally gets loose in the neighbourhood can easily maim or kill a child. Also, many yard dogs are bred and sold for the sole purpose of protecting one's home. In my opinion, this is the same as a person walking around his yard waving a loaded gun to scare people away. Accidents happen.

I believe that public education in combination with tougher by-laws and fines is needed to create a more humane society. A dog is a social animal and should never have to live its life on the end of a chain, nor live in a cage, nor suffer from lack of human interaction and lack of access to adequate medical care. Owning a dog is a privilege, not a right.

I urge Burnaby City Council to take a strong stand against desocialized, neglected dogs by setting a high standard for communities across BC. No one should be allowed to own a dog that gets left outside day after day, or lives its life locked up, chained up or penned in.

Thank you again for your efforts.

Warmly,

Jeri-Lyn Ratzlaff
Burnaby, BC