The Town of Athabasca’s council discussed instituting a bylaw to control the possession certain breeds of “dangerous” dogs. Coun. Timothy Verhaeghe brought the topic up, after receiving a note from a local doctor, Dr.
The Town of Athabasca’s council discussed instituting a bylaw to control the possession certain breeds of “dangerous” dogs.
Coun. Timothy Verhaeghe brought the topic up, after receiving a note from a local doctor, Dr. Michael Smith, that suggested the town should consider enacting a bylaw “concerning the possession of dangerous dogs such as pit bulls, Rottweilers, etc.”
“I know that this is going to be a contentious issue, but I submit (it) as worthy of discussion in any event,” he said.
Verhaeghe also brought forward a facts sheet for council members, discussing jurisdictions in Canada where pit bulls are banned and statistics on attacks by dog breed.
Coun. Shelly Gurba objected to enacting a bylaw based on “one little letter” coming to council with one sentence that “gives no backing, no reasons for it.”
“I can come up with a million things to enact in this town, but unless I have something to back it with, I don’t think this is something we can do,” she said.
Gurba also said singling out a particular breed of dog is not valid, and in fact “it is the owners of these dogs that make these dogs the way they are.”
There were three town residents in the gallery present to protest such a bylaw, and Coun. Tanu Evans asked Mayor Roger Morrill for permission to call upon Hayden Chisholl, 17, to give comments.
Chisholl, who said he is an owner of a pit bull in town, said the statistics quoted by Verhaeghe give no suggested cause for aggressive behavior in pit bulls, aside from the breed itself.
“Pit bulls are very powerful, but it depends on how you raise them. It’s like people – it’s how they’re raised,” he said.
After Chisholl’s brief presentation, Coun. Joanne Peckham said she wondered about the relevance of a medical doctor pursuing the issue as “I would never take my cat to Dr. Smith.”
Peckham then said she assumes the topic is being brought up because of the incident of the dog attack on a three-year-old in November, and asked Verhaeghe about whether his law firm is representing the family.
Morrill objected to her comment, and Verhaeghe said he “objected strongly” and that his professional work should not come to the table.
“I’m not going to respond to that specific question,” Verhaeghe said.
He then responded to Gurba questioning the validity of the statistics.
“I would argue there is data to support when (there are) jurisdictions across Canada that have bans,” he said. “They must have done it for a reason.”
Evans said there are two considerations for council – first that enforcing a dog ban like this is very difficult, and second it leaves the town sensitive to lawsuits, such as the one brought against Montreal by the SPCA last year when the city instituted a pit bull ban.
“I can’t support this. To me, in researching this, it doesn’t have to do with the breed. As Coun. Gurba stated it has more to do with the owner,” Evans said.
Verhaeghe reminded council he was only bringing the topic forward for discussion, and then made a motion for administration to do more research on enacting a bylaw to prohibit dangerous dogs and to review Athabasca’s existing animal bylaw.
The motion was defeated on a tie, with Evans, Gurba and Peckham voting against.
