Six months after the Plante administration repealed Montreal's ban on pit bulls and other dangerous dogs, the city has unveiled a new animal control bylaw.
The legislation will be introduced in the next few weeks and should be approved by city council almost immediately.
The city held public consultations on its proposals earlier this year, with point person, councillor Craig Sauvé, saying he wanted to create a better class of dog owners in Montreal.
The Coderre administration implemented a city-wide bylaw to harmonize the regulations across Montreal, because previous to that each borough had its own regulations.
The new, Projet Montreal bylaw includes many of the previous measures, including the sterilization of many pets and mandatory microchipping.
Under the new regulations all dogs, cats, and rabbits will have to be sterilized by Jan. 1, 2020, while dogs and cats will have to be chipped by the same date.
2020 is also when caleches will be banned in the city of Montreal.
The incentive for Coderre-era bylaw was the mauling death of Christiane Vadnais, killed by a dog that was initially identified as a pit bull-type animal.
That dog had previously attacked other people, but no official complaints had ever been filed.
Since her death a coroner has called for a centralized registry to track dog bites.
