Mayors will vote on province-wide registry for dangerous dogs

B.C. mayors will vote on whether to implement a province-wide registry for dangerous dogs next month. A resolution on the issue will be presented at the annual Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in Victoria.

Pitt Meadows mayor John Becker says the registry should be simple and focus on the animal's history of behaviour, not its breed.

"To single out a particular breed seemed to miss the mark, we're trying to deal with dangerous dogs of any breed," said Becker.

The city wants a single practice put in place across the province to track potentially dangerous animals if they move from one municipality to another.

Most cities have their own rules for dealing with dangerous dogs but each municipality has slightly different practices.

"What we would like to see is those requirements transported across jurisdictions so that an animal that has been involved in an attack of some sort will be required to adhere to these precautions no matter where the animal resides in B.C."

Becker says a registry would allow cities to impose rules on problem dogs such as muzzling in public.

Two serious incidents

A dog was killed and another was injured in a fight during an incident in Langley Tuesday and an elderly woman suffered serious injuries after a dog attacked her Monday.

"It underscores the need for this kind of attention, certainly," said Becker.

Marcie Moriarty of the BC SPCA says the initiative will highlight the organization's mission of responsible pet ownership and breeding, humane training, and permanent identification.

"We would be in support of legislation in whatever form that may take that would assist in addressing those issues together with the issue of dangerous dogs," said Moriarty.

With files from Farrah Merali.