A contentious breed-specific ban on pit bull-type dogs in Montreal is set to be officially lifted on December 20, 2017.
The news follows newly-elected Mayor Valérie Plante’s pledge to repeal any breed-specific restrictions on dog ownership that had been put into place by former Mayor Denis Coderre.
In 2016, Coderre’s government passed legislation that banned Montreal residents from acquiring an American pit bull terrier, a bull terrier, an American Staffordshire terrier, a Staffordshire bull terrier, or a cross involving one of those breeds.
The legislation also included dogs that share physical characteristics with those breeds and cross breeds, a questionable provision that opponents of the law believed could effectively cover any large dog with short hair and a big head.
People who already owned pit bulls were mandated to pay a $150.00 permit fee, keep the dogs muzzled while in public and on short leashes not more than four inches long.
On Friday, Craig Sauvé, a city councilor who serves on a committee that handles animal control made the announcement that the city will repeal any provisions that target pit bulls as a group, or place special rules on pit bull ownership that do not apply to other types of dogs.
Restrictions, however, will remain on individual dogs that have been deemed dangerous.
As previously reported by WAN, the Montreal SPCA has been fighting the ban since it was enacted last year and even sued the city, arguing that the new provisions targeting “pit bull-type dogs” were discriminatory, vague and unreasonable.
Among its many concerns, the organization argued that forbidding pit bull adoptions would result in animal shelters having to euthanize more of their innocent animals, and that the criteria for keeping pit bulls would force some low-income residents to have to give up their dogs.
WAN applauds the new Mayor for standing by her word and allowing pit bulls to be treated as individuals, not as a group pre-labeled to be dangerous because of how they look.
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