At its regular meeting last Tuesday, city council approved the first three readings to its amended animal control bylaw.
The new bylaw ups Merritt’s impound and licensing fees for citizen’s canine companions, and creates a new aggressive dog designation.
The new bylaw will now move to the adoption phase.
These changes give the city a broader scope when defining types of dogs and the new impound fees allow them to recuperate costs to house the dogs.
City council also defeated a staff recommendation to wait for provincial legislation, or other policies that have acquired legal precedent on anti-tethering legislation, rather than proceeding with amendments to the animal control bylaw in this regard.
Council deferred second reading of the animal control bylaw back on the Sept. 15 meeting, asking staff to address the practice of tethering dogs left in the sun without water or shade.
A report to city council in last Tuesday’s agenda stated that the province currently has no legislation regulating tethering and tethering dogs is not illegal.
At the meeting, Coun. Ginny Prowal proposed a notice of motion that no dog be tethered without the ability to move around and access shelter and water. It will come up for consideration at the next council meeting.
Last Tuesday’s report to council also pointed out that there are 133 cities in B.C. that have no time limit on how long an animal can be tethered. In Kelowna, West Kelowna, Lake Country, Peachland, Surrey and Delta, one cannot keep a dog tethered for more than four hours in a day.
In Burnaby and Terrace the regulation is no more than one hour per day.
