By Kevin Ma Morinville residents will have to license their cats under a proposed revamp for the town's pet bylaw. Town council held first reading of the Responsible Pet Ownership bylaw last May 24.
By Kevin Ma
Morinville residents will have to license their cats under a proposed revamp for the town's pet bylaw.
Town council held first reading of the Responsible Pet Ownership bylaw last May 24. The bylaw, if passed, would allow town residents to keep any animal that's legal to own in Canada as a pet provided they have a licence for it.
“This bylaw addresses all animals equally,” town enforcement services manager Sgt. William Norton told council.
Under the proposed bylaw, town residents will have to get a licence or permit for their dogs, cats, and unique animals and will be fined if their cats or dogs roam off their property without a leash (i.e. are at large). That's a change from the proposed animal control bylaw tabled last fall, which would have brought in voluntary licensing for cats and let unlicensed cats roam at large.
The draft bylaw requires owners to hold their cats and dogs on a leash at all times when off their property and not in an off-leash dog park. It also requires the pets to be under control regardless of the presence of a leash – this addresses the 40-pound-kid-with-80-pound dog problem, Norton told council.
The draft bylaw requires dog and cat owners to carry a leash and (in the case of dogs) an animal defecation bag/container, and to clean up any defecation their pets deposit off their property.
The draft bylaw allows for the creation of off-leash and no-go zones for dogs, but not cats. It continues to ban dogs from damaging property but apparently allows cats to do so.
Licence for that cat?
Residents will have to pay $100 to register a pet (half that for a spayed or neutered cat or dog) under the draft law, and $10 to renew that registration each year. Dogs will have to wear registration tags in public, while cats will have to wear either those or an ID tattoo/chip.
Norton said he proposed cat registration due to the escalating cost of the town's cat regulations, which forbid cats from being at large but do not require them to be registered. Something like 90 per cent of the criminal cats caught by the town have no ID and aren't claimed by their owners, and that's cost the town about $16,000 a year in impound fees.
Norton told council that he wasn't sure if this new law would lead to more cat-related complaints.
“As a rule, cats are very challenging to chase,” he said, so officers would continue to rely on residents trapping criminal cats for them (as is the case now). Officers would likely nab a felonious feline if it rubbed up against them.
“It kind of unfairly targets the friendly animals instead of the unfriendly ones, but that's the kind of system we have.”
Owners will be fined $200 to $400 for having an unregistered cat or dog under the draft bylaw and a similar amount for letting those pets run at large.
Elephant permits
The draft law removes the current ban on keeping poultry, pigeons, and bees in Morinville, and will let residents apply for an ownership permit for any animal provided they meet certain conditions.
The town isn't ready deal with all animals, Norton said in an interview – they can't handle an elephant, for example – and that will factor into which animals get approved for permits. Permit conditions will be imposed on a case-by-case basis.
The proposed unique animal ownership policy attached to the draft bylaw will, if approved, require anyone who wants a permit for an animal that is not a cat, dog, or fish to submit a site plan showing how they would house it, and prove, to the town's satisfaction, that they know how to care for it. Permits will have to be renewed annually and could be revoked if any of their conditions were not met.
The draft bylaw would not require permits for domesticated animals kept primarily indoors that are not dogs, cats, or fish. Owners that don't get permits for their unique animals would be subject to a $250 to $500 fine.
Coun. Stephen Dafoe asked administration to add rules for backyard chicken ownership to the draft.
“Backyard chickens, as I've said in the past, are going to be substantially more (popular) than what you might think.”
The bylaw returns for second reading on June 14.
