To the editor:
Two California big horn sheep died down on the beach out Westside Road near Estamont beach subdivision and right on the beach.
A person who lives at Estamont saw one of the sheep being attacked by a black dog. This happened a few weeks ago now. A guy who lives at Estamont Beach saw the dog attacking the sheep. I have photos of the one dead sheep carcass laying on the beach and a video of a dog chasing a deer through my yard. The sheep that was seen being attacked had been cleaned up by the time I heard about it, so didn’t get a photo of that sheep.
On Dec. 20, 2015, my neighbour on Balsam Road saw a barking dog chasing a deer through my property. (Cam 5 https://youtu.be/sIM0wmZQ-dU Cam 1 https://youtu.be/s1sOhrqBaMk)
There are lots of dogs out here left to run at-large and I find at-large dogs in my yard and on the road with no owner in sight, lots of times.
Regional District of the Central Okanagan dog control is not doing a very good job. Too many dogs are running at-large in the rural area. These two sheep should not have died if RDCO was doing their job.
RDCO [were intending to] increase fines for at-large dogs at a Feb. 22 meeting, but that is it—there will be no zero tolerance policy like there is for licencing.
In regards to licencing, RDCO increased the fine to $300 and set a zero tolerance policy and RDCO feels there are still hundreds of dogs that are not licenced. How does RDCO feel that just increasing subsequent fines for at-large dogs will make much of a difference?
The fine isn’t really increasing for a dog at-large first time offence in a public place. It’s always been $150. The only change is that there will be higher fines for second and third offences.
I am disappointed that RDCO is not taking safety seriously but instead just wants to collect fine money. I believe that RDCO needs to consider both the funding and the safety aspect of this.
Sharon Schnurr, Kelowna
