Dog Pounds - GVRD
by Faith Bloomfield
What do Vancouver, the City and Township of New Westminster, White Rock, West Vancouver, Langley and Chilliwack all have in common? They are the only areas within Greater Vancouver whose animal control pounds and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals are separate entities.
In others areas, including Burnaby, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, Richmond, Delta, Surrey and North Vancouver--city and district--the responsibility of animal control and municipal by-law enforcement are contracted out to the SPCA.
The mandates for the pound and the SPCA are different. The society is a non-profit organization that, following the Prevention of Cruelty Act (PCA), deals with cruelty issues and undertakes rescues. Animal control agencies follow municipal by-laws unique to each area. The SPCA exists in most of the areas with independent pounds but its responsibility is limited to the protection of animals.
The recently amended PCA enables the SPCA to inspect and investigate any premises where the mistreatment of an animal is suspected. If a situation demands it the act also gives the society the authority to seize the animal in question and charge the person causing the harm.
Every municipality has its own by-law dealing with licensing, “poop and scoop” and leash rules and impoundings but there are some differences. For the most part a pound’s responsibilities are dogs and the enforcement of the pound by-law with no regulations governing cats. Animal control organizations rarely handle cats and, except for Burnaby which has facilities for everything from snakes to livestock, the few that do limit their involvement to adoptions. A number of pound/SPCAs, including Burnaby and Surrey, enforce a large animal by-law although the need is much less than it used to be.
Where the municipal by-laws most often differ is in regard to vicious or dangerous dogs. Each municipality has sections in their by-law describing what constitutes a vicious, or in the case of Delta, a dangerous dog and how they have to be kept. The section is usually breed-specific, concentrating on pitbulls and Staffordshire terriers and dogs crossed with either of these breeds. In fact White Rock’s vicious-dog section also includes Rottweilers and Doberman pinschers although this inclusion is currently under review.
Except for Delta all municipalities also have a more general section stating that dogs with the known propensity to attack or who have a history of attacking may be deemed vicious upon investigation. (In Delta the SPCA handles these cases by charging the dog’s owner with criminal negligence which may result in a jail term or a $2,000 fine.)
In order to license a vicious/dangerous dog in Delta or Richmond the owner must first purchase liability insurance. A number of other cities charge higher fees for licensing dogs in this category. Whether the by-law is breed-specific or not, all municipalities agree that vicious or dangerous dogs must be properly contained (to varying degrees) and muzzled in public.
There is no specific reason some municipalities have their pounds controlled separately from the SPCA. In White Rock, Vancouver and New Westminster the cities run the animal control branch themselves and in West Vancouver police bylaw enforcement officers are responsible. In Langley--city and township--and Chilliwack the contract is bid upon by different organizations including the SPCA and could change with each renewal.
When they are separately run the two organizations often fill each other’s gaps and the control and protection of both animals and the public is always maintained.
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