At 10:30 on Sunday evening, Áine Corrigan-Frost was walking to a friend’s house near the Bowen Island Legion when she saw a large, “fluffy” brown and black dog emerge from what appeared to be a shared driveway.
“It was clearly not with anyone, and am generally kind of scared of dogs, so I crossed the street and tried to avoid it,” said Corrigan-Frost. “It crossed the road and started following close behind me, and I turned around to face it. When I did that, it lunged and snapped at me. I was looking it in the eye, and kept facing it as I walked backwards towards my friend’s house.”
Corrigan-Frost said the dog never bit or touched her, but she was forced to encounter it a second time when she walked home. She says that when she finally did get home, she was too shaken to do anything, but her mother called bylaw services on her behalf.
Senior Bylaw Services Officer Bonny Brokenshire says that because they don’t know exactly who’s house the dog came from, and do not know who the owners are, there will be no action taken on this case. However, this incident will be added to the list of 21 “dog aggression” incidents that have occurred on Bowen Island since the beginning of 2014. Almost half of those incidents, according to a recent report written by Brokenshire for council, have resulted in serious injury to either humans or other animals.
Brokenshire was asked to put the report together following a letter written to council by Iona Buchan on March 18.
“My concern is that as a citizen of Bowen we have had a number of incidences lately with proper protocol for dog etiquette,” writes Buchan. “Do we (Bowen Municipality) have a better way of communicating with the GVRD? How do we enforce their bylaws? How many dogs can one person have under control at once? Should the Cove be a leash-only place? Should there be a limit to how many dogs can reside in one dwelling?”
At last week’s meeting, Brokenshire presented a report to council answering the questions raised in Buchan’s letter. On the question of setting limits surrounding the number of dogs permitted on any individual property, Brokenshire says that of the eight other communities surveyed most had such limits in place.
“Generally speaking, most of the communities we surveyed – Lion’s Bay, Pemberton, Belcerra for example – set a limit of three or four dogs per property,” says Brokenshire. “If someone wants more dogs than that, they have to apply for a kennel liscence, and not all properties are suitable for that purpose.”
Members of council touched upon this issue but decided not to take action on it, as doing so would require changes to Bowen’s Land-Use Bylaw and this action does not fit in among the priorities laid out in the 2015 strategic plan.
Among the options for council laid out in Brokenshire’s report, is the suggestion that council ammend the dog-control bylaw by including an “on-leash on public areas” provision, with the exception of certain areas.
In discussing this point, councillor Sue Ellen Fast questioned whether there were more dog-related incidents being reported to Bylaw Services from within Snug Cove, or from any of the Bowen Island Neighbourhoods. Brokenshire said that roughly 20 percent of complaints were reported from Snug Cove, and those included dogs blocking traffic, feces on the sidewalk and aggressive incidents.
Councillor Alison Morse suggested that the definition of having a dog “under control” needs to simply be clarified in the bylaw to mean that a dog is on-leash; while councillor Gary Ander elaborated on the point.
I’m sorry, but this is part of the growing-up of Bowen Island.
“It’s a control issue, and it’s not about the dogs, its about the owners. And we have to give the bylaw officers some clout – 99 percent of the time dogs are excellent on Bowen Island this is for the 1 percent when they are not. They have to have that control. I’m sorry, but this is part of the growing-up of Bowen Island.”
Council voted on and passed a motion to carry the above-mentioned suggestion forward, and Brokenshire will report back to council in several weeks with ideas about what areas should be exempt from an “on-leash” provision of the dog-control bylaw.
