Vegreville Town Council Debates Responsible Pet Ownership

Vegreville Town Council Debates Responsible Pet Ownership

Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser

Vegreville Mayor Tim MacPhee may very well have opened Pandora’s Box, but told members of council at the Jan. 4 legislative committee meeting that he had promised to bring forward the item for discussion in the New Year.

MacPhee was referring to a written request from Vegreville residents Roy Mills and Anton Powley who each wrote letters last November asking the town to draft a cat bylaw as they were tired of picking up after cats who are continually urinating and defecating in their yards.

Community Services Director Phil Rowe said he had planned to bring forward the item at a future council meeting, but MacPhee wanted to proceed with the discussion, and gave Rowe the floor to speak on the item.

Rowe said that over the last couple of years they’ve been researching responsible pet ownership. “It’s not just a cat issue, but it did stem from a couple of public complaints.

I’ve had some in-depth conversations with Prairie Tails Animal Rescue Society, the local veterinarian and talked to numerous communities around the province that have responsible pet ownership and how they’ve dealt with cats.

Through all of these conversations resident cats are not the issue that we’re facing, and it’s very similar with a lot of other communities. The problem that we’re seeing is people that are harbouring cats in their yards.”

Rowe said they don’t currently have anything in a bylaw that states about harbouring cats, and that’s something they can definitely look at. He said many communities are registering cats and offering traps to allow people to trap a cat in the proper season. Registered cat owners are notified and given one chance, and after that if their cat is found loose then they pay a fee to get their cat back.

MacPhee countered by saying, “Of the two letters we received, they knew who the cat owners were. They were neighbourhood cats that were allowed to roam free.” He said putting some teeth into a bylaw would force irresponsible pet owners to be responsible.

Rowe said they had talked about redoing the dog bylaw back in 2020, but that was tabled. “So, I’d look at putting it all together with responsible pet ownership.” He said they would looking at tiering of licensing for animals that are spayed or neutered versus unaltered, what types of animals and number of animals, and fines to include in the bylaw.

The town does have a complaint system in place, but Rowe said in terms of registration they are working on a more efficient online registering system, one that would also allow residents to pay fees online.

MacPhee said he didn’t think people would register their cats. Coun. Justin Curtis said he didn’t think they need registration for cats or dogs. “I think we’re making it more convoluted than it has be. We just have to set up a fine scale.” Curtis said the animals are removed and owners fined, and the fines go up each time they are caught. “That’s the way to go about it and that’s the way to end it.” Coun. Dave Berry suggested a voluntary registration on cats would offer protection for the cat owner if their cat got picked up by chance.

Coun. Jerrold Lemko said they should deal with the problem at hand and did not see the need to include dogs in a bylaw. “We need to look at the problem and put a policy and procedure in place to deal with that, and slowly work on nuisance animals.”

Coun. Curtis and Coun. Len Bullock disagreed and supported an all-encompassing bylaw. Rowe said the dog bylaw dates back to 1994 and requires a massive update. “By going to responsible pet ownership we could combine all animals if that’s what council wishes.”

Rowe said he could have something ready for preliminary discussion in a month’s time. “Go ahead and bring something back to us,” stated MacPhee.