Montreal’s newly amended Animal Control Bylaw came into effect Monday and was immediately challenged in court.
The controversial law has angered many dog owners and animal rights advocates.
The Montreal SPCA filed for an injunction and presented its legal challenge in court. The hearing began Monday and a ruling may only be made on Wednesday.
Alanna Devine, head of advocacy for the animal welfare group, said her agency believes the aspects of the law that target pit bulls are discriminatory and violate a provincial law that designates animals as sentient beings.
Under the bylaw Montreal inspectors can issue tickets for pit bull owners who do not have their animals muzzled, and for large dogs that are not in a harness.
SPCA lawyer Sophie Gaillard says the SPCA has several points to argue.
"We will argue that the bylaw does not identify a pit bull," said Gaillard. this despite the provisions for the dangerous dog section of the bylaw stating that it applies to three specific breeds, namely the American pit bull terrier, American Staffordshire terrier, the Staffordshire terrier, as well as dogs that are crossbreeds of the aforementioned animals, or any dog that physically resembles those breeds.
Devine said it is her hope that the court will suspend the bylaw immediately.
"If we are successful it would mean that the provisions of the bylaw that deal with pit bull-type dogs, which we feel violate some fundamental provisions of administrative law, as well as violate some articles of the provincial animal welfare legislation, as well as some civil code amendments vis a vis animals being sentient beings. If those are heard and our stay is granted, then those provisions will not be enforced until such time as the merits of our arguments can be heard before a judge at Superior Court," said Devine.
Earlier this month the SPCA threatened to back out of a contract with the city of Montreal to provide animal control services if the city passed a breed-specific bylaw. That threat came after the SPCA convinced Ste. Adele to remove its pit bull ban in order to have the SPCA provide animal control.
Montreal city council approved the amended bylaw on Tuesday.
Among other measures, the bylaw allows existing pit bulls to remain in Montreal as long as they are registered and owners obey leash and muzzle rules.
Aimed at eventually eradicating pit bulls from the city, the bylaw bans new pit bulls from coming to Montreal as of Monday Oct. 3. Owners of existing pit bulls who have not yet registered their dogs have until Dec. 31, 2016 to do so.
Montreal estimates that 80 percent of dog owners have not registered their dogs.
Many cities across Quebec and Canada have banned pit bulls, as has the province of Ontario.
Montreal recently published a new website to help pet-owners navigate the new bylaw.
