Dog bylaws predatory in City of Victoria

Careful leaving your animal tied up outside businesses in the city

Re: Hot days, fur coats don’t mix (News, May 16)

If it is too hot to leave your dog in your car when you stop, you had better not leash your dog outside of a business in Victoria.

Victoria Animal Control will take your dog and charge you for its return if they find your animal is leashed to anything but your hand, even for a minute.

Their indiscriminate policing of Victoria’s animal control bylaws puts dogs at risk, as people leave dogs in cars rather than leashed in the shade.

Oak Bay had the sense to amend their bylaw, after VAC kept issuing fines and impounding dogs from outside of neighbourhood shops. Oak Bay understands the civility of being able to take your polite dog with you on your shopping errands.

Victoria tries to be a bit like England on the Pacific, yet it is nowhere near England when it comes to laws accommodating man’s best friend.

Victoria Animal Control Services seems more interested in generating fine revenue than in animal welfare.

Kirk Buhne

Victoria

Victoria News