With vicious dog complaints on the rise, the City of Greater Sudbury is updating its approach to how they’re handled, including where vicious dogs are allowed to be.
Ward 5 Coun. Mike Parent tabled a motion last year requesting a report on vicious dog attacks and how the city handles them, which city animal care and control bylaw co-ordinator Melissa Laalo tabled for this week’s operations committee meeting.
“Our practices and deterrents in place are consistent with some other municipalities, but we’ve seen some areas to enhance,” Laalo told the committee.
In a series of resolutions approved by the committee, Laalo proposed prohibiting vicious dogs from using dog parks and off-leash areas, which she said is where the majority of bites occur and is common practice for municipalities.
Special licences would be required for vicious dogs, whose fees would offset costs for annual inspections and photographing of vicious dogs, and a public education campaign is proposed.
Fee changes and a business case for a public education campaign will be included in 2025 budget deliberations.
The city will also petition the province to speed up proceedings under the Dog Owners’ Liability Act (DOLA), under which Laalo said dogs under review are held at a municipal shelter for “up to a year or more” while proceedings take place, “completely isolated.”
An open data portal divulging the rough location of vicious dogs has also been proposed, which would also include such information as dog breed and date of the attack which led them to be classified as vicious.
The number of animal-related complaints in Greater Sudbury has been on the rise in recent years, from a low of 2,116 in 2017 to 4,169 in 2023.
As of April 24, there have been 1,375 calls so far this year, which brings it on par with last year.
The number of vicious dog complaints similarly increased from 144 in 2017 to a peak of 358 in 2023. Last year, there were 148 cases involving a threat or attack on an animal, and 181 involving a threat or attack on a person.
There’s a wide range of reasons for these calls, Laalo said, adding, “When we whittle down the information from concerns of dog behaviour ... it could be lunging over a fence or scaring somebody.”
When it comes to the most serious of cases involving unprovoked attacks, there hasn’t been an increase, with a consistent three to five dogs per year classified as vicious. Of these dogs, approximately 12 are estimated to be alive in Greater Sudbury today.
While staff wait for the operations committee meeting’s decisions to approve these measures to be ratified by city council as a whole and brought to 2025 budget deliberations where necessary, staff have already been working toward some improvements. This includes working with Public Health Sudbury and District to expedite the sharing of information related to the location of dog attacks to assist with charges and prosecution.
City bylaw officers investigate all reported dog attacks, near-misses and any reported dog behaviours which pose a threat to the safety of people or domestic animals.
“Where the attack is unprovoked, or where the severity of the attack warrants a concern for public safety, a decision as to whether the dog should be deemed vicious is made by the manager of Bylaw Services,” according to Laalo’s report.
“Where a dog is deemed vicious, the condition of the notice must be immediately complied with to ensure public safety. Bylaw Services may also commence a proceeding under the provincial DOLA to request a control order that prescribes additional measures or an application to remove or destroy the dog.”
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
