SAINT CITY NEWS (St Albert, Alberta) 07 January 10 Morinville’s new pet bylaw more than just exotics (Glenn Cook)

Despite media reports that may have indicated otherwise over the past few days, Morinville’s new pet bylaw is about more than banning elephants and armadillos.

The three-page list of banned species is among 56 pages in the town’s proposed Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw, which first came before Morinville town council on Tuesday, Dec. 21.

Since then, it has garnered a lot of attention — enough to take Mayor Lloyd Bertschi by surprise.

“Considering it didn’t even get first reading, yes, I’m quite surprised,” Bertschi said. “It was clear from the initial read of it why we sent it back to a committee of the whole meeting: so we could discuss it. And then, of course, the newspaper wrote about it, and all of a sudden, TV picked up on it, and it was unfortunate it was a slow news day.”

For rookie councillor Lisa Holmes, though, she understands why news outlets latched onto the story.

“It’s a funny news story, and it’s a pretty slow news cycle because of Christmas and New Year’s, so I can see why,” she said. “But it is kind of sad that the idea of it has gotten lost in the muddle. It could end up being a good bylaw for Morinville, something other communities could look to.”

While not as attractive as banning exotic pets, Holmes said the proposed bylaw would address other serious pet-related issues that the Town of Morinville has received complaints about in the past, like cats roaming through yards and defecating in flowerbeds.

“What their intent was to make sure we have a bylaw in place to be able to back up what the citizens require,” she said. “Maybe there’s a problem with roaming cats or lost cats; then we have the bylaw in place to be able to back up what we’re doing.”

But, she added, the banning of exotic pets like opossums, pigs, birds of prey and certain snakes is still a necessary step, no matter how much it may get blown out of proportion.

“As funny as this was, there are a lot of animals in there that should be banned, that are dangerous animals,” Holmes said. “You may get someone moving into town who has these big dogs, and you want to make sure the citizens of this town are protected.”

Holmes also pointed out that the Town is currently in the process of reviewing and updating all of its enforcement services bylaws, and the pet bylaw was just one of three to come up at the council meeting on Dec. 21.

Bertschi said that such a review, and the main thrust behind revamping the bylaws, is to give enforcement officers in Morinville the tools they need to do their jobs well.

“A review was initiated because our peace officers were having issues dealing with a few areas, and they wanted to tweak it,” he said. “This [the pet bylaw] is obviously not a tweak — it’s a fairly major rewrite — but it’s to help them do their jobs better.”

Right now, Holmes isn’t sure if Morinville’s proposed bylaw is modeled after other pet bylaws in Alberta or if it might become an example for other municipalities to follow.

For now, though, Bertschi and the rest of council are just more eager to see the due process play out and see the hoopla surrounding it die down a little.

“Our process was a little bit out of synch, and that’s why when something like this comes up, it should always go to committee of the whole first for discussion, so we can head off some of these issues,” the mayor said. “A tweak is one thing, but we got too carried away, and council needs to identify what we need to see as well.”

The bylaw should return to town council’s committee of the whole on Tuesday, Jan. 18.
Morinville’s new pet bylaw more than just exotics

[ Show Entire Thread ]