New regulations are coming that will pertain to Montreal’s 500,000 cats and dogs.
“We have to make sure we have a proper and safe environment, but secondly, we have to think also of the beast,” said Mayor Denis Coderre.
The city is seeking to institute new rules that would cover the entire island. Currently, each borough having their own regulations pertaining to pets. Those boroughs might not have the resources to enforce those laws.
“We had a case last municipal council the ninth, where a citizen came and said, ‘In a park, we saw a dog without a leash and we called the borough and borough doesn’t have time to come,’” said Villeray-St. Michel-Parc Ex Borough Mayor Anie Samson.
Among the most pressing issues is what to do with pitbulls. The dogs have been banned in Outremont, though Samson said it is too early to say if Montreal will make the ban city-wide.
Dog trainer John Truss, who owns five pitbulls, said the city’s problem is with irresponsible dog owners, not the dogs themselves.
“The most dangerous dog is the one that’s tied up in the backyard and never walked, never socialized, not around people,” he said.
Keeping an eye out for those dogs that could be a danger is difficult, as Montreal currently has only five full-time dog inspectors.
SPCA Executive Director Nicholas Gilman said dangerous dogs can come in any breed.
“What we do want is for these animals to be behaviour-assessed, he said. “We want them to be identified, microchipped, sterilized if possible.”
There are plans for a municipal shelter which will have room for 12,000 animals to open in 2018.
“If we do less sheltering work and the city does more of it, it opens up the opportunity for the SPCA to be deeply involved in sterilization of animals, education, legislation, advocacy,” said Gilman.
