Fort Erie Council has approved a new Animal Welfare, Protection and Control by-law to update current rules and services.
The by-law provides town officials and agencies acting as 'Poundkeeper' for Fort Erie guidance.
Key changes that were made to create the new by-law include:
• Consolidating all animal related by-laws into a single source document
• Providing enhanced definitions
• Providing new provisions for standards of care, animal noise, pens and enclosures, etc.
• Refining current provisions for identification tags, licence appeals, muzzle orders, etc.
• Mapping out enforcement and inspection powers for the administration of the by-law
• Ensuring that the by-law had a neutral administrator, so that provisions could be contacted out to agency if possible
“With the introduction of the PAWS Act and its Animal Welfare Inspectors, animal cruelty investigations which were once performed by the OSPCA, are now the responsibility of the province. Updating the Town’s animal related By-laws are timely based on these recent legislative changes.” says Paul Chudoba, Coordinator, Law Enforcement.
Changes to the Town’s Animal Welfare, Protection and Control By-law were based on recommendations from Council, and reviewed by Jennifer Friedman, who is a lawyer that specializes in animal rights and welfare, and veterinarian Dr. Anneliese Heinrich.