New animal bylaw aims to deter dog attacks, address feral cats in Edmonton

CBC

19 hours ago

Social Sharing
Edmonton has a new animal control bylaw aimed at addressing concerns about increased dog attacks and shelter space, while also modernizing rules for various companion animals and updating licensing.
It's the first major revamp of the rules in about 20 years. The new bylaw is a renewal of the city's animal licensing and control bylaw.
Officials announced details about the bylaw on Wednesday at the city's Animal Care and Control Centre.
"It's important to periodically review our by laws, and this one was pretty long in the tooth — pun intended — and so it was time to actually take a look and see if we needed to update fees, fines, rules and regulations," said John Wilson, director of animal care and park rangers with the City of Edmonton.
Deterring dog attacks
The new rules are designed to address a recent rise in dog attacks. Dog attack complaints have increased by almost 15 per cent since 2020, according to data from the city.
Fines can range significantly from $250 to up to $3,000 depending on the type of dog attack.
Dogs identified as vicious may be required to complete training by a professional dog trainer and could land fines ranging from $2,500 and $7,000 depending on repeat offences.
"We've listened to Edmontonians, and we've heard and we've seen rises in the number of dog attacks in the city of Edmonton," Wilson said.
"This is of grave concern to us, since the new bylaw gives us the tools to introduce new guidelines and expectations of owners to better protect people."
The city said fines have increased after analysis found that they were lower for other Canadian cities.
Cat control
The city said Edmonton is home to an estimated 70,000 feral cats, with about 600 entering the Animal Care and Control Centre annually.
New regulations prohibit owned cats from roaming on private properties as well as creating definitions for cats that are unowned and feral.
The bylaw also outlines trap-neuter-return and return to field programs, which affect feral and unowned cats respectively.
Both feral and unowned cats will be sterilized and returned to where their original location.
Tracy Bauder, manager for the city's Animal Care and Control Centre, said the programs will help manage shelter space for cats.
"This program and the return-to-field program are both in support of our capacity for care, and it will actually help us help more cats that need to come into the facility, that are sick, that are injured," Bauder said.
"This will help us ensure that we have the space to serve them."
Bauder said the centre will work with community partners to help manage the city's feral cats.
From the feathered to the scaly
The bylaw also looks to update the variety of pets that people may now have.
"In recent years, we see a lot of new species that people are interested in as companion animals, everything from reptiles to birds," Wilson said.
"A lot of those exotic pets have their own needs for care, and that was a big topic of discussion for us during public engagement."
Many of the species brought up as part of the engagement process, such as reptiles, are already regulated by provincial and federal legislation.
Pigeons have become an increasingly common pet for residents.
There are 86 pigeon licences across the city, which enables people to put aviaries in their yard and to have up to 75 pigeons, according to the city.
The bylaw establishes regulations around the number of pigeons, the dimensions of the aviary, cleanliness, when pigeons can fly, what hours and how many pigeons.
Those rules are to minimize the impact of pigeons on surrounding properties.
Animal welfare and licensing
As part of enforcement efforts, the City of Edmonton upholds the provincial Animal Protection Act.
"We have a dedicated team of animal control officers who deal with animal welfare, and we're the only municipality in Alberta that does that," Wilson said.
"What this bylaw does, though, it gives us additional supplemental tools to deal with animal welfare issues that aren't covered in the Animal Protection Act."
This includes situations like animals that are left unattended, abandoned, exposed to severe cold or heat or transported in an unsafe way.
A range of licensing changes will also come into effect:
New categories for bees and hens.
Licensing fees will increase by $1 per year over the next three years.
Seniors and Edmontonians on income assistance can receive a lower fee for all pets in their home.
Not-for-profit animal rescue organizations will have their licensing fees waived.
While the changes have been approved by council, they will not come into effect until May 19, 2026.