On Monday (September 18), City Council approved three amendments to Airdrie's Animal Control Bylaw following a public input session.

Lynn Mackenzie, Team Leader with Municipal Enforcement, explained one of the main amendments was changing the amount of time stray animals, with no identification to help contact the owners, are impounded.

"That way we can find a new home for the animal quicker. Currently our bylaw states ten days, so now it will be three days not including weekends or holidays, and then we can adopt that animal out."

Mackenzie said unlike Calgary, which impounds animals for 72 hours, Airdrie impounds the animals for three full business days. The change was meant to bring the bylaw more in line with the Animal Protection Act.

In 2016, the City impounded 19 dogs, and 17 were eventually returned to their owners. They also impounded nine cats, five of which were returned.

Council also approved an amendment that removed reference to the City Manager that was intended to allow special permissions for certain kinds of prohibited animals like chickens.

"This current bylaw allows the City Manager to grant permission to own, and due to the potential for negative impacts on surrounding property owners, we wanted to put it through Airdrie's urban agriculture program."

Once the urban agriculture program is rolled out, it will set forth criteria for those prohibited animals, making reference to the City Manager obsolete.

The final amendment clarified the authority of Peace Officers by adding the word "seize" to section 8.2. During the public input session, a resident raised concerns that the amendment could lead to officers seizing an animal on flimsy evidence. Mackenzie explained all cases are thoroughly investigated.

"We have very clear guidelines set out for our officers that would determine whether or not an animal would actually be seized, and one of them would be if the animal is deemed to be a public safety risk."

The amendments passed three readings unanimously.

 

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