MEMORANDUM

SEP 10 1979

TO: Mayor and Council September 5th, 1979

FROM: L.D. Pollock
City Administrator

Re: Licencing Age of Dogs

At the last meeting of Council, an amendment By~law was discussed
that would reduce the licencing age of dogs from six months to four months.
At that time, concern was expressed that such a reduction in age might
conflict with the age at which an animal is clinically able to be neutered
or spayed and therefore the owners of young dogs might have to pay the higher
licence fee: ‘

Attached is a copy of a By-law presently in effect in the District
of Coquitlam that gets around this problem by entitling the owner to obtain
a refund of the licence fee within six months of purchase by presenting a
certificate of spay or neutering. The By-law also covers older dogs that

are unable to undergo surgery.
4%

Council may wish to enact a similar By-law to get around this
problem and introduce the four month provision. "

To reiterate the comments of the Committee in an earlier report,
the change to a four month age for licencing is desirable from the point of
view of uniformity with the other municipalities, but it is also essential
from a point of view of animal control, .We have lost cases in Court because
o£ our six month provision as the S.P.C.A. are unable to prove the age of a
dog after it gets beyond four months. The Coquitlam By-law might resolve
Council's concerns about this conflict.

LDP/w
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