If there were any locals opposed to the proposed changes to the animal control bylaw in New Westminster, they did not speak up at the public forum held at the Centennial Community Centre on Wednesday evening.
About 50 people attended the forum, hosted by the city and presented by animal control officers. All seemed to be in support of the plan to remove breed-specific wording from the current bylaw, which labels dog breeds such as pit bulls as vicious.
"I think you need to deal with specific dogs, not a whole breed," said New Westminster resident Liz Craik. "I think it's awesome that they're asking for feedback, especially if they follow up. That's great," she said of the forum and survey on the city's website.
The two-hour forum included a presentation by an animal control services officer from the City of Coquitlam, who spoke about that municipality's removal of the breed-specific wording from its legislation in 2011.
"We couldn't be happier with it," said Sarah Bull, supervisor of bylaws, licensing and animal services for Coquitlam, in reference to her city's updated bylaw. "The impact on the city is consistency of enforcement and fairness (in regards to) all dog bite investigations."
The proposed changes to the New Westminster bylaw shift the focus to responsible pet ownership rather than pre-emptive designations for certain dog breeds as either aggressive or not.
As well as removing breed-specific legislation, the proposed new bylaw includes an additional 37 offences to target aggressive dog behaviour, regardless of breed, and failure to take responsibility for animal control and care in general.
"Leash your dog, license your dog and love your dog," said Sukh Maghera, coordinator for parking and animal services for the City of New Westminster, as an introduction to the presentation.
Maghera spoke about the city's proposal to join other municipalities that have updated their animal control bylaws to reflect nuanced regulation requirements for pet owners.
Maghera said the city will take into account the public feedback collected through an online survey and present that to council for consideration before making any final decisions.
"We're hoping to get a pretty positive response to what our bylaw's going to be representing," he said.
Lena Abalakova, another local resident, said she hopes to see New Westminster council follow Coquitlam's lead because " she feels it is unfair to single out specific breeds.
"Let's face it, there are good owners and bad owners, each with their own agenda," she said.
Kim Walters, a Vancouver resident who attended the meeting, said she and her partner want to buy a home in New Westminster but are waiting to see if the legislation changes, as they owns two pitt bulls.
"We're not willing to live somewhere if we have to leash and muzzle them," she said.
For more information on the proposed changes or to fill out the survey, visit www.newwestcity.ca and click on the animal services forum link.
