Municipalities in Hastings County now have some guidance for setting by-laws related to exotic animals.
This came about at Thursday’s meeting of Hastings County Council.
Ontario is the only province in Canada that does not have legislation regulating and managing these animals.
That responsibility was downloaded to the municipalities in 2001.
Municipalities can do some of this through the Planning Act but there are still gaps and they don’t ensure the health and safety of the public and the animals.
Hastings County Planning staff worked with other agencies that are involved with these animals and by-laws, including the Ontario SPCA, World Animal Protection and ZooCheck Canada.
The staff report indicates: Based on information and assistance provided by these groups and from reviewing other by-laws, a template by-law has been prepared.
The intent is to share this template by-law with member municipalities who can then choose to use this by-law as a draft/starting point for municipalities who do not currently have an exotic animal by-law and/or if they are considering updating or replacing their by-law.
Planning staff created a template for the municipalities.
The staff report indicated that, based on each municipality’s requirements of needs, the by-law can be modified.
County council approved the template and will share it with its 14 municipal members.
