Barking forces shelter to bar dogs
Linda Nguyen, Vancouver Sun
COQUITLAM - An animal shelter in Coquitlam has permanently shut its doors to man's furry, and sometimes noisy, best friends.

The city of Coquitlam has warned the shelter run by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals that it will be ticketed for breaking noise bylaws if the dogs continue to bark too loudly.

"We're not accepting any dogs, period," Craig Daniell, CEO for the B.C. SPCA, said Friday. "We'll try to find room for the animals but the reality is we have one less facility where we can have dogs."

The SPCA runs nine shelters in the Lower Mainland and cares for animals surrendered by owners or rescued from abusive homes.

This is the first time an SPCA shelter in B.C. has adopted a no-dog policy.

The last six dogs at the Coquitlam location on Pipeline Road were moved early Wednesday morning to other shelters in Greater Vancouver.

The shelter is now only home to cats, rabbits and other small animals.

Noise issues became a concern in recent years with the growing number of residents in the area, with many complaining directly to the city.

"It's been going on for many years," city spokesman Trevor Wingrove said. "There's been a consistent group of people complaining so it's not like we would be willy-nilly in writing tickets."

He said it's the city's job to make sure property owners do not violate noise bylaws.

The shelter has held meetings with residents for the past six months.

In February, it hired an acoustical engineer to suggest how it can reduce noise levels.

"Forty years ago, this location was in the boonies. Now the shelter is completely surrounded by a residential neighbourhood," Daniell said. "We're an old facility and the reality is that we're not designed to ensure that no noise escapes. When the dogs bark, neighbours hear it and they feel it's too loud and consistent."

The shelter began turning away dogs four months ago to ensure that only 10 dogs are cared for at a time.

It has space to house 20.

The dogs have also been moved to the back of the building where they're not visible to the street and sound-proofing panels were installed in the kennels and around the outdoor yard.

Pat Hilker, who has lived across the street from the SPCA for 35 years, said it's unfortunate it's come down to this.

"If people don't want to hear the noise from the dogs, they shouldn't have bought a house here," Hilker said. "People should go out and buy earplugs and stop squawking about the barking."

Neighbour Jane Brancati agrees.

"I rarely hear the dogs. I think it's quite quiet. I've never had any problems with them," she said.

Daniell said the shelter has tried to move to a more industrial area for the past six years.

"We've been trying to buy land since 2001 but have been unsuccessful," he said. "The problem we run into is the cost of land is phenomenal and a lot of people are not interested in having an animal shelter in their backyard."

The city also turned down a recent request from the SPCA to lease space for the dogs in the city-run shelter, Daniell said.

The Coquitlam facility needs to be moved or knocked down and rebuilt to be completely soundproof, he said.

So for now, the shelter is only welcoming small and quiet animals.

"The city has put us in a bind," Daniell said. "We don't know if we can continue to run the facility."