The seizure of dangerous animals and the seizure of at-large animals is no longer available in Quesnel as people are waking up Wednesday (June 24) morning.
Council voted unanimously at Tuesday night’s meeting to suspect those services until a facility to house dangerous animals is identified.
The SPCA informed Council back in December that it would not be renewing its contract to provide kenneling services to the city.
Tanya Turner, the Director of Development Services, says despite the notice they have so far been unable to find a suitable replacement.
“Staff researched other communities and have found there is significant variation between communities on animal control services provided with very little consistency and no identified best practices. Staff researched facilities in the community that may be interested in providing the kenneling service but did not find any suitable options. Most kennels would have difficulty permitting unrecorded animals into their facilities due to concerns related to the spread of illness and disease.”
Councillor Mitch Vik asked what this now means to people needing to report a dangerous dog.
Turner said that there were some different steps to the bylaw.
“A dangerous dog report is not the first step, it’s likely that they’re going to report an aggressive dog. That is still maintained in the bylaw and they will report that to bylaw services, there are steps that are taken with aggressive dogs. The only issue we have right now is if we were to go and determine that a dog is dangerous, we do not have a facility, the next step is seizure of it. We do not have a facility to take it.”
Turner also noted that the seizure of a dangerous dog was quite rare in the city.
“Just so you know in 20 years we’ve never seized a dangerous dog, most times bylaw is able to to work with the dog owner and find a resolve. We are having an increase in aggressive dog cases, and bylaw is working with a number of different individuals or dog owners and is working to resolve the issues without having to seize, which we will always would do.”
There were concerns on Council about liability should the city suspend these services.
City Manager Joel McKay pointed out that it was the opposite.
“Why we are recommending to Council that this goes forward is to limit or mitigate our legal liability at this point in time, because as long as this is still in there but these services aren’t being offered, if something were to occur then we would be in a tough spot legally.”
Another part of the recommendation that was endorsed by Council was to put out a request for proposals to see if anyone is interested in operating a facility in the community.
Mayor Ron Paull suggested looking into finding a partnership.
“This matter has come up for discussion generally at the Cariboo Regional District in public meetings, and there may be some opportunity in at least asking if there is any opportunity to work together with either the Cariboo Regional District or the Fraser-Fort George Regional District or both. I think everything is on the table with this issue.”
The City was paying the SPCA $60,000 to provide the service, something it had been doing since 2001.
