Dogs who injure or kill other pets or people are generally designated as dangerous by their local bylaws department. But once they leave the boundaries of that municipality, there is no system to track them.
Pitt Meadows council is proposing a new province-wide directory of dangerous dogs that every city in the province could access. Dogs that are repeat offenders could be dealt with more judiciously, with increasing penalties, up to and including being put down.
Pitt Meadows has been wrestling with the problem since the death of a Shih Tsu cross, Buttons, on Sept. 28 of last year. It was mauled by a bull mastiff at the patio of the Harris Road McDonald’s restaurant.
A delegation, led by the dog’s owners, John and Yvonne McDonald, packed council chambers at its next meeting, asking for tougher laws. Their supporters included several other dog owners whose pets had been injured or killed in Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge.
Council asked city hall staff to look into a system of microchipping dangerous dogs, but Kate Zanon reported on Tuesday that doing so would be too cumbersome. The purpose of microchips is to reunite owners with lost dogs. Microchips don’t currently keep information about whether a dog is dangerous.
Municipalities would have to either seize and microchip offending dogs at their own expense, or compel owners to have it done. Another problem was that veterinarians or kennels would need to be consulted when the need to read a microchip arose.
Zanon suggested a province-wide directory would be a better system, and the idea was endorsed by council. All municipalities would be required to register any dog they have deemed as dangerous.
“This registry would allow bylaw enforcement officers to easily cross-reference dogs upon licensing to this list, therefore eliminating the current issue of people moving and the new municipality having no idea of past behaviour,” said Zanon’s report.
“This registry would also allow bylaw enforcement officers to cross-reference to this list even in the field if needed when addressing dog attack situations.”
Coun. Janis Elkerton asked that council defer the matter until it meets again on March 15, so the plan could be reviewed by the SPCA, and the Lower Mainland animal control managers committee. Those groups have been in discussion about a way for all municipalities to be able to attain and share information regarding the management of dangerous dogs, and were scheduled to meet March 4.
“It shouldn’t just be the politicians crafting, it should be the people who are involved with this on a day-to-day basis,” said Elkerton, adding that this is a province-wide problem.
“We have to do something that’s manageable, and that we can enforce.”
For the new system to work, Zanon said all municipalities would need to define a dangerous dog as per the Community Charter. Currently municipalities have various definitions of dangerous dog behaviour and some interchange with the terms such as “vicious” or “aggressive.”
Owners of dangerous dogs would have to ensure that when the dog goes beyond its own municipality it continues to adhere to all dangerous dog designation conditions, as per their home municipality bylaws, to avoid penalty. If a dog owner was caught in violation of the dangerous dog designation, the municipality where the offense occurred could take action as per their local bylaws.
Council’s next step will be to send a resolution to the Lower Mainland Local Government Association, with a view to getting it before the Union of B.C. Municipalities for a vote.