According to Mahatma Gandhi, the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
On a local level, the City of Dauphin is claiming a piece of that moral high ground with a modernization of its Animal Services Bylaw.
The current bylaw, in force since 2020, was a significant improvement over the previous long-standing Animal Control Bylaw 3939 adopted in 1984, but the new guideline, which received first reading at city council’s Nov. 18 meeting, represents a giant step forward, said deputy city manager Lisa Gaudet, who has taken the lead on the issue.
“I am very excited about this bylaw, I think it was long overdue,” she said.
“We have completely overhauled and rewritten the bylaw to really reflect best practices and progressive approaches to animal care and management and we’ve done a tremendous amount of research looking into bylaws and practices from across North America to incorporate the best approach and the best wording into this document.”
With the bylaw having passed first reading, Gaudet is seeking public input prior to second and third reading, Dec. 9.
Those wanting to express their opinion can find the survey by following links on the City’s website at www.dauphin.ca under the “Services” tab.
“We’ll be reviewing all the feedback from the community engagement. I think 122 people have already completed the survey, so that is absolutely fantastic to see that engagement,” Gaudet said.
“People are really passionate about animals in our community and we’re really happy to see that. We are listening and we will take their responses into consideration as we send the bylaw for its final readings. We’ll make changes to reflect the input.”
While the bylaw has been completely revamped, there are a number of concepts in the new document that are a highlight for Gaudet, which are going to impact how people manage and care for their animals and the standards to which they will have to comply.
One of those is the rules around tethering, which has been proven to cause psychological distress and aggressive behaviour in animals. The bylaw currently states that a person cannot confine or yard an animal for more than 15 consecutive hours without food, water or attention.
“So that essentially means that you can confine, yard or contain an animal for more than 15 consecutive hours as long as those needs are met. We know that tethering, especially for long periods of time, is inhumane and we really want to shift the attitudes on that in our community,” Gaudet said, adding shifting attitudes takes time and small changes and she would like to see rules around tethering revisited in the next couple of years.
Read the full story in this week’s edition of the Dauphin Herald.
