Stephenville expresses interest in animal inspector

STEPHENVILLE — The Town of Stephenville is one of three municipalities that have expressed an interest in having someone trained as an inspector under the new Animal Health and Protection Act.

Dr. Hugh Whitney, the province’s chief veterinary officer, said Reidville and Pasadena are the other two communities interested in having trained inspectors.

The inspectors will have the authority to investigate suspected cases of animal abuse and neglect and to issue tickets to help enforce the new laws contained in the act.

While these three towns have already an expressed an interest, Whitney expects more municipalities will want inspectors.

Asked whether the training in Stephenville may relate to the roaming dogs issue on the Port au Port Peninsula, where Eileen Gastia, a West Bay woman, alleges she had a small dog killed by roaming dogs on July 29, Whitney said he couldn’t comment on that.

However, he did say communities already have the power to deal with those kind of issues through the Animal Health and Protection Act.

While inspectors can come from such backgrounds as the SPCA, municipal employees, conservation officers and police officers, an obvious choice would be an animal control employee.

Training people to respond to calls of suspected animal abuse and neglect is just one of the initiatives contained in the new act, which was adopted on May 2.

Fines of up to $50,000 or six months in jail could be awaiting a person convicted of cruelty to an animal as a result of the new act, which also includes other penalties such as a lifetime ban on owning animals.Veterinarians are now required to report suspected cases of animal abuse to Whitney’s office.

The following is an overview of the Animal Health and Protection Act:

— Surgical operations for the purpose of modifying the appearance of a pet or animal (docking of tails and the cropping of ears) shall be prohibited unless permitted in a code of practice, for example tail docking in lambs.

— The new act contains a general statement to legally protect animals from distress. Distress is defined as “the state of being in need of proper care, water, food or shelter, being sick, injured, abused or in pain or of suffering undue or unnecessary hardship, privation or neglect.”

— If an inspector has reasonable grounds to believe an animal is in distress, the inspector must try to find the owner and obtain the owner’s co-operation to relieve the animal from distress. If the owner is not found or if the owner is unable or unwilling to relieve the animal of its distress, an inspector can seize the animal. Charges can be laid in such cases.

— Dogs must be safely tethered or penned at all times unless on a leash held by a person capable of restraining its movements, being used for lawful hunting or herding sheep, or other purposes that may be defined by regulation.

— A dog may be kept in a yard if it is safely fenced with no ability to escape.

— Animal owners must provide adequate care, food, water and shelter for their animal.

— Animals cannot be maintained or used for fighting purposes.

— Animals cannot be transported in the back of an open vehicle unless securely attached.

— Animals cannot be confined in an enclosed space without adequate ventilation.

— Veterinarians will now be required to report suspected cases of abuse to the chief veterinary officer and be legally protected from recourse for doing so, unless the information was provided falsely or maliciously.

Source: Animal Health and Protection Act