NIPAWIN — The Town of Nipawin passed a new animal control bylaw requiring any owner of a dog or cat six months or older to obtain a town issued licence.
This was passed with a number of other bylaws by the Nipawin council on Dec 10.
Each animal needs a specific licence, and the holder of a cat or dog licence must be at least 18 years old. The licence expires at the end of each calendar year and the owner must obtain a new one.
“There are some obligations now for licensing, trying to get control of the cat population here in town as well,” said Barry Elliott, the town’s administrator. “We need to be regulating their presence in the community because I’m sure as you know, as you can recognize, cats have a tendency to wander and sometimes that creates problems. Of course, we’re trying to control the feral cat population at the same time.”
With the exception of animal shows and related businesses, there is a maximum of 10 animals over the age of six months per dwelling.
The full bylaw can be found on the Town of Nipawin’s website.
There is a $100 fine for the first offence of failing to licence an animal.
The Town of Nipawin also passed a new communication policy at their Dec. 10 council meeting.
This policy outlines the Nipawin town administrator as the sole person to represent town operations to media, and the mayor as the sole person to represent council to media.
“I don’t think it’s going to change very much,” Elliott said. “Part of the concern was just identifying who was able to speak on behalf of the town formally, on behalf of the corporate decisions formally.”
This policy does not prevent town employees from speaking to media, but prevents their comments from representing council as a whole or operations of the town.
“Nobody can stop a council member, anyone from speaking. That’s of course a human right,” Elliott said. “We wanted to make a central location, a common point of contact so the message is clear and it accurately reflects any decisions made by council.”
