Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Wants to Kill Your Dogs
Welcome to lovely Yarmouth, Nova Scotia – now give us your dogs so we can kill them.
This is one of the most SHOCKING and SICKENING pieces of anti dog legislation I have ever seen in my life. If this law passes, and you live in this area and have more than two dogs, they will be seized and killed.
No grounds for other forms of surrender, no grandfathering, no allowances for breeders, shelters, those who foster, or for rescues.
Please – even if you do NOT live in the Yarmouth area, or even in CANADA, take a minute to let them know how you feel about this. Tell them you will NEVER spend your tourism dollars in the Yarmouth area if this horrific law passes.
Just this once, don’t let them get away with it. Here are the details about the legislation, and how you can protest:
Below you will find the contact information to the Mayor and Council in Yarmouth NS.Highlight copy and paste.
Mayor.Mooney@townofyarmouth.ca ; DeputyMayor.Boudreau@townofyarmouth.ca ; Councillor.Dares@townofyarmouth.ca ; Councillor.Langille@townofyarmouth.ca ; Councillor.MacIsaac@townofyarmouth.ca ; Councillor.MacKenzie@townofyarmouth.ca ; Councillor.Pink@townofyarmouth.ca
http://tinyurl.com/62yjf4b (copy of proposal but there is more on the table mentioned than written here)
Highlights for the proposed back wards legislation include: a.. * Limiting the number of dogs, ALL DOGS to 2.If you have more,they must be relinquished to the municipality for destruction.There are no provisions for grandfathering in ‘extra’ dog, nor can you relinquish the dogs to a rescue.
b.. * there are no provisions for breeders, no provisions for shelters or foster homes
c.. * Banning several breeds.
d.. * requiring insurance for owning a ‘dangerous breed’
e.. * requiring a warning sign outside your home to designate you as an owner of a ‘dangerous dog’
f.. * If your dog bites, it is automatically designated as a ‘dangerous dog’ no matter what the situation
g.. * If you own a dangerous dog you must show that you have an enclosed locked area for the dog, inspection of same can happen at any time without warning
h.. * dangerous breeds and dogs designated as dangerous must be leashed and muzzled whenever off their owners property
i.. * they can shoot on sight any dog acting ‘fierce or dangerous’
Locals, please attend the public meeting on May 9, 6:30 PM, at Town Hall Council Chambers, 400 Main Street.IF YOU CHOOSE to send an email to the city council, please be polite.This town needs tourists and as any one of you might be a potential tourist dollar in the future, you have the right to forewarn them that their town can easily be bypassed should they chose to legislate BSL.
Yarmouth lives and dies by tourist money.
Outrage from outside has the potential for power here.
Email sent. What a terrible law!
This is just disgusting. Emails will be going out from here. They will be civil but firm.
I received this reply from Councillor Dares…
Hi Karen
This is a model bylaw from the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities.
It is merely a discussion paper. There is so much in here that I cannot support (I have 3 Golden Retrievers) and it will change dramatically before I can ever support even the first reading. (By law, we are required 2 readings to approve a bylaw change) Our council did not approve this. It is just a draft that we put on the table from our union to get people talking.
We will have a public meeting May 9 to receive public input. We did not approve it because it simply is not acceptable in its present state.
Thank you for taking the time to write.
Esther Dares
What a ridiculous response. Is she trying to say that the ONLY possible piece of legislation that the council could have considered was this ridiculous, horrible, badly written, ill conceived draft?
The council did not HAVE to choose to consider this ‘model bylaw’ – someone chose to introduce it.
Obviously, now that public pressure has started, councillors are looking for ways to remove themselves from the fall out, rather than simply standing up and saying “I will NOT let this pass”. So much easier to whine “It wasn’t my faauuuult”, instead.
Keep writing and email – and please, keep blogging and tweeting. Yarmouth lives and dies by tourism, and if enough people tell them “You’re not getting a PENNY of my travel dollars”, they WILL back down.
I got the same exact reply.
Politicians need to learn that form letters aren’t their friends. On the plus side, at least Councillor Dares is sending out SOME kind of response – the rest of them have just hunkered down and are operating on the “ignore the crazy dog people and they’ll go away” theory.
In another maritime province of Canada, New Brunswick, sweeping ‘pet establishment’ regulations came in last fall in the guise of a ‘puppymill bill’. The new regulations prohibit the advertisement for sale of any single pup from any person without a kennel license. The cost of the home/kennel inspection for license is $250.
Arlene
What a nice cash grab for the municipalities – do nothing to actually protect dogs, but charge sellers $250 for the privilege. I don’t see this having slowed down Kijiji listings at all, but I bet it’s impacted the legit breeders.
Yes, it is a nice cash grab. The estimate is that the NB-SPCA (which does not run a shelter) will take in $50,000 annually. Unfortunately the funds given to supportive shelters are only paid for killings. –
http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/north/article/1388439 – “This year in the contract, the NBSPCA changed that from each dog released to the shelter to every euthanized dog we would receive $60 … That was unacceptable.”
It has slowed down the kijiji listers, and that includes those that are listing older run on pups from show homes. There have been numerous posts on the Canadian Kijiji forum re this regulation.
Have linked this on my blog – hope that is ok – also sent a letter to all of the above noted people – friggin unbelievable.
I just sent a mail, but several of the email addresses bounced back, I just wanted to let you know. Also, have put this story both on FaceBook and Twitter. Consider this some support from Seattle, WA.
Way to go Yarmouth! I think this is great! No more back yard breeders, brokers, “rescues” OR breeders period.
The world has enough animals and not enough homes..
if you want a french bulldog, try a shelter or a french bulldog rescue, they have lots and you’ll pay a lot less!
Oh, Christine – you’re so right! I also think that, if you have more than two kids, they should round up those and euthanize them as well. No more drug addicts or murderers! Well, unless we kill the wrong kids. C’est la vie.
Also, there won’t be any worry about this opening up more homes for animals from shelters, since a) there won’t be ANY shelters in Yarmouth and b) you won’t be able to adopt an animal even if there was, since you can only have two of them.
But, hey, we always do love it when people bring the crazy to this blog, so get out that tinfoil hat and keep on writing!
This draft is dated Nov 2006. Why are you up in arms about something that happened 4 1/2 years ago, especially when the town council agrees that it was horrible and has already voted it down?
Are the same town council members even on the council today?
In fact, reading the town website, it seems that they are having a public meeting tonight.
http://www.thevanguard.ca/News/2011-05-09/article-2490185/Public-meeting-on-dog-bylaw-tonight/1
Apparently this draft from 2006 (it’s a model bylaw; e.g. a template they’re using) was voted on in April 2011. They decided to take it to the public and get additions and comments. Obviously it should be the residents that decide if this law works for their town, or what changes need to be made.
i can not believe the stupidity of such a law. if a dog is brought up right it will mostly behave itself. if a dog is trained to fight it will most do that. children are the same, but if the child falls in with the wrong crowd aer you going to put that child to sleep. animals are not just pets , they are fur babies and are part of the family. I cannot believe the cruelty that goes on in your country , animals have thoughts and feelings, just like you and i. we do not have the right to dictate when a animal dies, because their owner has two dogs already, or because some stupid ignorant person wants a fur coat. the only time a animal should be put to sleep is if it is ill and not likely to get better. man should learn from animals, they are way smarter than us humans. i will not be visiting your country, no matter how beautiful it is , while you have laws and cruelty , that you will not even try to become concerned about the welfare of dogs and other animals.
I was at the meeting last night that dicussed this and it is not going to happen, try not adding fuel to a fire, get your facts
Wow, reading these comments, I have to reply. First and foremost, before commenting, you people should look into the incidents leading to this bylaw, and why it is being brought to the table. In my line of work, I have come across almost every dog within Yarmouth, and can tell you which ones are cross, protective, and the ones that are downright friendly. I am also one of the ones against BSl, as also one of the people against the 2 dog limit. Councillor Dares publicly stated at the first meeting of this that she was against parts of the first draft. What we citizens are working towards is protection from uncontrollably cross animals, and animals trained to kill. http://www.thevanguard.ca/News/2011-03-28/article-2371664/Woman-hospitalized-after-dog-attack/1 http://www.thevanguard.ca/News/2011-04-05/article-2401937/In-defense-of-a-dead-dog/1 http://www.thevanguard.ca/News/2011-05-07/article-2486117/All-I-want-is-for-him-to-say-he%26rsquo%3Bs-sorry/1 And, finally, I own a shepherd. Friendly as hell, but trained to grab any agressor on command, by the pants, and pin them to the ground.