Morinville residents will be able to license any farm or wild animal they want as a pet starting next year – as long as it's a chicken.
Town council passed the new Responsible Pet Ownership bylaw last week. The law, which has been in the works since November 2015, adds new on-leash requirements for cats and dogs and allows residents to obtain unique animal permits to keep any animal that's legal to own in Canada as a pet.
But council backed a follow-up motion from Coun. Rob Ladouceur to put strict limits on those unique animal permits in a 6-1 vote (Coun. Brennan Fitzgerald opposed). The town will issue no more than 10 permits in the next year, and will only allow them for fowl (chickens). Applicants will also be limited to a maximum of six fowl per site.
These restrictions will be reviewed in one year, effectively making this a trial run for backyard chickens, Ladouceur said.
Coun. Stephen Dafoe supported the move, having previously suggested a ban on "full-sized livestock" such as goats or cows.
"I just don't think we're ready for it."
New rules for pets
The new bylaw introduces many new requirements for cat and dog owners.
Town residents now have to register their cats if they want to keep them in town, for example, and must ensure that their cats display their license tags at all times when off their owner's property unless they have an ID microchip or tattoo. Dogs do not have such an exemption (unlike under the town's previous pet bylaw), and have to wear their tags at all times while in public.
Residents will have to pay $100 to register a new cat or dog in town. That price drops to $50 if the pet is spayed/neutered or permanently identified with a tattoo or microchip, and to $25 if it is spayed/neutered and has permanent ID. Registrations must be renewed annually for $10.
Cats and dogs must now be kept on leash at all times when off their owner's property and not in an off-leash zone. Owners must produce and use such a leash in an off-leash zone if asked by an enforcement officer. The law also lets the town ban non-service dogs from certain areas.
Cats and dogs are not allowed to make excessive noise or bite/attack/injure/kill any animal, person or vehicle. Dogs are not allowed to damage property; cats are not subject to such a ban.
The law sets fines of $100 to $2,500 for offences, with higher fines for repeat offenders. It also lets residents appeal some fines to the town's chief administrative officer, and removes the explicit bans on keeping bees, pigeons or poultry.
Unique animal permits likewise cost $100 and $10 to renew, and will be issued upon approval by bylaw. A procedure attached to the bylaw says that residents must prove they have adequate knowledge of the unique animal's needs, submit a site plan, and inform their neighbours of their intentions to apply before they will receive a permit.
Enforcement services manager William Norton said the rules for fowl-keeping (also attached to the bylaw) were an example of how these procedures would work.
Those rules, modelled after ones found in Toronto and Red Deer and attached to the bylaw, include minimum coop sizes, training requirements for owners, and permanent identification or banding for birds.
Town resident Amy Taylor and her daughter Madison helped Norton write the chicken procedure, and said they hoped to be the first family in town to get a backyard hen permit.
These rules put the onus on the applicant to take the steps necessary to care for backyard hens, Taylor said.
"You're not going to see thousands of stray chickens around," she said.
"You're never going to see a chicken cross the road," joked Madison.
The rules for backyard chickens say that they must remain on the property for which they are permitted at all times, which would preclude most road-crossing activities.
The bylaw should soon be available at morinville.ca.
