Municipal officials in Antigonish Co. are moving forward with a new dog bylaw.
Councillors passed first reading of a bylaw involving lawful ownership of dogs and a policy change to their dog control bylaw at January’s regular municipal council meeting Tuesday night.
After the meeting, Owen McCarron, the warden of Antigonish Co., said there have been a lot of changes to the wording of their dog bylaw through time, so they decided to revisit their policy.
“We reached out to the public and asked for input from them- we received seven written inquiries, staff responded, and then kind of got to the understanding of what will make a good bylaw,” he said. “We’re fairly comfortable now moving forward with the new bylaw.”
McCarron said one change is the timeline to contact an owner after a dog is picked up- from 72 hours to three business days- but discretion will be used.
He said there’s not a huge issue with dogs roaming at large in the municipality- they just felt it was time for an update.
Second and final reading is expected to take place at February’s regular council meeting.
