Cape Town tables draft Animal By-law for public participation
The City of Cape Town has finalised its draft Animal By-law, after addressing many of the concerns raised during the extensive public participation phase.
Several improvements have been proposed in the final version, which consolidates the various by-laws of ten previous administrations into one uniform piece of legislation.
Among others, the new provisions have increased the number of dogs and cats allowed per household; offer better protection for animals against fireworks; impose fines of up to R20 000 to prevent dog-fighting; seek to promote the well-being of cart horses; prescribe stricter conditions for kennels and catteries; and deal with animal identification and the removal of dog faeces in public places.
"Pet owners may now keep up to four dogs and four cats per property. Those who wish to keep more may apply to the City for a permit. We have also included an automatic approval for the existing number of animals on a property at the time of the implementation of the by-law. Owners will have nine months after the implementation to make application for additional animals in terms of this automatic approval," says Cllr JP Smith, Mayor al Committee Member for Safety & Security.
"Regarding complaints of nuisance animal behaviour, the City has drawn on international guidelines to manage the rights of pet owners and their neighbours. The by-law enables our officers to speedily resolve complaints through a system of fines, thus avoiding protracted disputes which often end up in court," says Cllr Smith.
The by-law is very specific on what constitutes nuisance behaviour. Owners many not keep any dog which barks for ‘more than six minutes in any hour or more than three minutes in any half hour', causing disturbance to inhabitants of a neighbourhood. Nuisance behaviour makes up a disproportionately large part of complaints to the City's law enforcement agencies.
An official may order the owner to take steps to effectively stop such nuisance and keep the dog under proper control.
The Council may designate public places as free running areas for dogs or may designate an area as an area where dogs are required to be on a leash.
In response to incidents and complaints involving violent dogs, owners may also not urge any dog to attack any person or animal except for self defence, or keep any dog which causes damage to public property, or which is ferocious or dangerous to be in any public place, unless it is muzzled and leashed.
Council may take action were any dog which is suffering from any contagious disease, is under-fed, constitutes a traffic ha za rd, or is a stray. All dogs are required to have on its collar or micro-chip a name, telephone number and physical address to ensure effective re-homing of the animal.
If any dog defecates in any public place, the person in control of the dog is required to immediately remove the excrement and dispose of it in a litter bin.
"The City has consulted widely and extensively with the public and with animal welfare organisations and we believe that Cape Town 's proposed Animal By-law is one of the most progressive in the country," says Cllr Smith.
The by-law will be tabled at the Safety & Security Portfolio Committee meeting today (04 June); after which it will be referred for a second round of public participation.
Statement issued by Cllr JP Smith, Chairperson of the safety and security portfolio committee, City of Cape Town, June 4 2009
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