About two months ago, my sweet little dog was attacked and killed on our front lawn by two wandering, much bigger dogs.
It was after that heartbreaking and horrible tragedy that I discovered there are no animal control bylaws within the Regional District of Bulkley Nechako. The officer I spoke to about the incident said he couldn’t really do anything because there were no laws to enforce.
I wrote about my experience in an earlier edition of this paper and since then, numerous people have reached out to me and shared similar experiences.
One woman, out of Fort Fraser, wrote me a lovely handwritten letter and sent it in the mail.
She also has had to deal with neighbours’ animals on her property.
Dogs that bark at all hours of the night, an alleged puppy mill and more trouble with cats.
She also tried reaching out to the RCMP and the RDBN, with very little help or luck.
She said she was told by a regional district director that it was much too expensive to create an animal control bylaw and even more expensive to hire a bylaw officer.
This is hogwash.
It doesn’t cost an immense amount of money to create a bylaw, especially since other municipalities have already done this.
We aren’t reinventing the wheel.
Not having a law simply because you can’t enforce it, isn’t a reason not to have the law.
Maybe animal control bylaws are difficult to enforce in widespread, rural areas but having a law brings awareness to the issue and is a template for how we want to live and how we want our community to run.
Leaving it up to neighbours to deal with themselves is not fair. A lawless district is not a safe one.
READ MORE: Council directs staff to research banning roaming cats
More recently, a Smithers resident brought forward a request asking for an amendment to the animal control and licensing bylaw in town to also include cats.
She asked the town ban pet cats running at large because cats can destroy wildlife, damage property and create human health and safety risks. At the following meeting, council decided that was a good idea and said they would bring it up at the next strategic priorities meeting so staff can do more research and the bylaw can be reworked, if need be. One councillor was worried about staff capacity and the lone bylaw officer keeping up with the complaints.
However, another councillor said that isn’t a reason not amend the bylaw.
“Our bylaws depend on people following the law and they can be enforced if they need to be,” said councillor Frank Wray.
“It sends a message, people do not enjoy cats destroying property.”
Smithers council gets it.
The law provides a way to resolve disputes peacefully.
Hopefully, the RDBN can get on board.
READ MORE: Rural areas need animal control bylaws and enforcement