Cortes Islanders might have to keep a closer eye on their dogs.
The Strathcona Regional District is looking in to a bylaw that would establish a dog control service for the island.
“This request for a bylaw came out of a situation where a dog was of control multiple times,” said Cortes Island director Mark Vonesh. “(The dog was) scaring people and ended up killing another dog on on the island.”
Vonesch said the owners of the victim dog approached the RCMP, but were told “they weren’t able to do anything about it because there was no bylaw.”
SRD Chief Administrative Officer David Leitch said that there was some movement toward a dog control bylaw in the past, but that it had “died on the vine” after costs of catching and holding dogs would be prohibitive. However, he said there was a cheaper option that would allow RCMP officers to ticket offenders.
“If the dog’s doing violent acts, they’re going to go get that dog right away,” he said. “They’ll seize it and they’ll do whatever they do with it. But our bylaw wouldn’t have to address that.”
The SRD staff will come back to a future meeting with a more detailed potential bylaw.
RELATED: SRD getting closer to dog control on Quadra
Strathcona Regional district trying to deal with nuisance dogs on Quadra Island
marc.kitteringham@campbellrivermirror.com
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