A resident of Airdrie, Alberta, Canada is in the preliminary stages of organizing a petition to require pit bulls to be muzzled when off their owners’ property. The city’s manager of municipal enforcement, Darryl Poburan, is currently working on a new dog control bylaw that will include a clause for violent dogs. Mr. Poburan is reluctant to single out the pit bull breed in the bylaw, and has suggested the resident would be well served by coming to the regular council meeting when he presents his dog control bylaw so she can make her concerns known.
City council meetings are the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month at 7:00 p.m. in council chambers. Considering the city has been working on a breed-neutral bylaw, it is likely they will not be interested in pursuing a breed specific ordinance, but residents are encouraged to attend council meetings in the coming weeks.
A call for muzzles on pit bulls in Airdrie
By Chris Simnett — Reporter
Posted 3 hours ago
Allison Prentice is hoping to muzzle pit bulls in Airdrie.
After one of the dogs attacked her daughter’s year-and-a-half-old Labradoodle in the off-leash area on the city’s east side the morning of Aug. 25, Prentice has been hard at work organizing a petition to have all pit bulls muzzled when they’re off their owner’s property.
She doesn’t want the controversial dog breed banned in Airdrie, but feels a muzzle would mitigate what happened to her daughter’s dog.
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Prentice isn’t upset with the owner, just the fact that pit bulls are in the city’s parks, unmuzzled and able to attack.
“This is the third one (attack) in the past month that I’ve been told of since I started researching pit bulls after the attack,” said Prentice, who owns a three-pound Shih Tzu. “I’m at the point where there’s no way I would take my dog out to an off-leash area.”
Prentice called city hall on Monday morning and found out that pit bulls only require a licence, just like any other dog.
“I’m not suggesting these dogs are banned,” she said. “But there are other towns in Alberta that require a muzzle.
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Darryl Poburan, manager of municipal enforcement for the City of Airdrie, is currently working on a new dog control bylaw that will include a clause for violent dogs.
But Poburan is reluctant to single out the pit bull breed in the bylaw.
“You can’t stereotype breeds,” said Poburan. “Some pit bulls out there are really good dogs. Some poodles are violent.”
Poburan doesn’t know the particulars of the Aug. 25 attack but suggests Prentice would be well served by coming to the regular meeting council when he presents his dog control bylaw so she can make her concerns known.
Prentice is just in the preliminary stages of organizing a petition.
Just last week in response to a pit bull attack in Sundre that left a woman disfigured, Alberta Solicitor General Jonathan Denis said he wouldn’t push for a provincewide ban on the breed, but would support any municipality that decided on sanctions against pit bulls.
Currently pit bulls are banned in Manitoba, Ontario, 11 U.S. States and 20 countries.
Poburan said the courts are threatening the legality of such bans and he is reluctant to single out a breed.
“We are slowly finding out that you can’t stereotype a dog,” he said.
Bless the Bullys 