By Matthew Hoekstra
Staff Reporter
May 26 2005

Pet owners can now be held responsible for dangerous dogs

City council has adopted tough new animal control measures targeting dangerous dogs and hiked fines and licence fees less than a year after bylaw officers took on the new enforcement role.
Since September 2004, city bylaw officers have been enforcing animal control regulations. Now the city's newly renamed animal control regulation bylaw outlines new rules for dog owners taking their pooches out for a stroll.
Pet owners can now be held responsible should their animal kill, injure or harass a person or animal, and no person can have more than three dogs off-leash in city dog parks.
Dangerous dogs, which include pit bulls, Staffordshire terriers, crosses of these breeds and others deemed by officials as dangerous, are no longer allowed in dog parks. Their owners will also now face licence fees of up to $200.
This summer, bylaw officers will patrol dykes and parks on bicycles to ensure dog owners are following the new bylaw measures.
"We have the bikes, the officers have been equipped with (uniforms), so we should be getting them out there shortly," said Don Pearson, community bylaws manager.
Judy Stone, president of Animal Advocates Society, welcomed the restrictions for dangerous dogs, saying municipalities have to protect children and other animals from breeds such as the pit bull.
"A 40-pound pit bull can kill an adult. It can kill another big dog," she said. "We're absolutely in favour of anything that stops the breeding of the most dangerous dogs."
Other dog licence fees will also be hiked in 2006 "to reflect fees charged in other municipalities in the Lower Mainland," according to a staff report.
Fees for spayed and neutered dogs will climb to $20 from $16. For dogs that aren't spayed or neutered, the licence fee jumps to $70 from $46.
Close to 5,000 dog licences have already been sold this year, according to a staff report, and increased fees are expected to generate $40,000 in new revenue.
Most fines relating to welfare of animals have doubled-now averaging $200 per offence-and new fines relating to how pet stores house and sell animals have been added.
Stone said she's long been asking municipalities to make pet stores improve the care of their animals.
"The standards we would like to see are not going to be met by this bylaw, but we're really, really pleased to see that municipalities are finally looking at the way pet stores treat their goods."
The city has also adopted a new offence: "animal noise which disturbs." In other words, owners of incessant barking dogs could face a $250 fine.
The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which operates the city pound, will also be charging higher impoundment fees to deal with higher shelter costs.