Currently, a portion of Section 49 (1) (c) reads: "Special powers in relation to dangerous dogs:
49 (1) (c) an animal control officer has reasonable grounds to believe is likely to kill or seriously injure a person".
Do you see how inadequate (1) (c) is, and how dangerous? What if an animal control officer decided that YOUR dog might be LIKELY to harm or kill someone? Based on nothing? Our dogs and dog owners here in B.C. are subjected to this fear every day.
An animal control officer has a high school education and is trained to enforce laws, not assess animal behaviour. Yet, an animal control officer in this case is allowed to determine that a dog is LIKELY, even though the dog has done NOTHING, to kill or seriously injure a person! His or her 'reasonable grounds' is groundless given the lack of education an animal control officers has in the field of animal assessment. Sometimes they are given 1-2 day 'courses'!
That is why it is imperative to delete (1) (c) entirely from Section 49. You can view the document online by typing Community Charter Section 49 in your browser.
Dogs have been euthanized within 24 hours or less, without the owner's knowledge. Dogs have been taken from owner's homes without permission by animal control officers because of Section 49 (1) (c) and impounded for months and even years while awaiting court trials. This has caused extreme stress for the dogs involved and extreme expense for the owners trying to defend their beloved animal guardians. We need as many signatures as possible to get the MLA's attention. For more information please tweet me @PlanetFirstNow, or write or phone your MLA (if you live in B.C.,Canada) if you live in the States you may sign the petition as well. Thank you for helping! The voiceless dogs thank you as well.
The Community Charter, Section 49, "Special powers in relation to dangerous dogs" has come under fire for its inadequate wording since it was created in 2000. The entire Section 49 should be rewritten, but for now we will concentrate on this part of Section 49: (1) (c) an animal control officer has reasonable grounds to believe is likely to kill or seriously injure a person.
An animal control officer (who has a high school diploma) has 'reasonable grounds' to believe your dog is LIKELY to kill or harm someone, even though that dog has done NOTHING? Seriously, this has got to be the worst law ever written. Based upon nothing, your dog is then impounded and in many cases over the years, dogs have been euthanized - for nothing and without the owners knowledge or permission. This has resulted in lengthy expensive court trials for many district throughout British Columbia, Canada, unnecessary suffering from lengthy impounds for the dogs and great expense for the owners trying to save their beloved pets. Dogs are family. They are not pieces of furniture to be used and discarded. We are asking for signatures to help us encourage our MLAs to delete this particular section of Community Charter Section 49 (1) (c). You may also contact your MLA and ask him or her to present a Member Statement to Parliment regarding this issue. Feel free to pass this along to friends and family - and any dog lovers in B.C.! There are many and together we CAN make a difference. Let's do it!
