By Angela Brown

Town’s new animal control bylaw designed to make community safer

Apr 5, 2018 | 8:00 AM

Battleford residents will need to make sure Rex and Fluffy have had their rabies vaccinations when they order their pet licences, or face an extra fee.

The Town of Battleford’s council approved an updated animal control bylaw at its recent meeting. The bylaw was designed to ensure all pets have received their rabies shots to help keep the community safe. There will be an extra charge of $60 for dog and cat licences for those who haven’t had their animals vaccinated.

“That is one of the big ones to highlight,” Mayor Ames Leslie said, adding the town wants to make sure everyone is vaccinating their cats and dogs against rabies.

While the amended bylaw takes effect immediately, the $60 penalty doesn’t go into effect until Jan. 1, 2019, so the town has an opportunity to educate the public about the changes first.

“Community safety isn’t about raising revenue, it’s about having a healthy and safe community,” CAO John Enns-Wind said when he introduced the new bylaw. “We want to educate through the website, through the radio. It would be nice to have a town hall meeting in the fall where residents can come out and we can update them.”

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He said the cost for individuals to have a pet vaccinated for rabies is about $105. By charging an extra $60 on licences if residents don’t have their pets vaccinated against rabies, he said the town hopes to encourage people to get the shot. He said this is consistent with what other communities are doing.  

Enns-Wind noted the town had some incidents in the past were children were bitten by dogs and their families were concerned about whether the animal was vaccinated for rabies.

“They went through a lot of emotional ups and downs because of what they did or didn’t know about dog,” he said. “So the plan here is we can provide the Humane Society with a list of our animals that are tagged. They can have the animals brought in and they will know the status of the animal.”

The town has also adjusted some of its other animal-related fees and fines. Fines range from $50 for individuals who don’t have their pet licensed to $2,500 for a dog attack. Licence fees for dogs and cats start at $10 each.  

Also added in the updated bylaw was a limit to the amount of time an animal can be left on a leash. According to the bylaw, an animal can’t be on a lead for more than 12 continuous hours and the animal needs to have access to proper and secure shelter for protection from the elements. 

The bylaw also ruled no more than three animals over the age of six months are permitted for one household.

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow