Crackdown urged for running dogs with vehicles
Trudy Hause's dog, Elwood, hit in off-leash area of Sand Pits
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Friday, December 2, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
City staff have been asked by Coun. Julian Morse to examine how a bylaw could be changed to prohibit running dogs alongside vehicles in off-leash areas such as the Sand Pits.
Melissa Ruf (left) spoke to city council Monday evening urging them to restrict people from running dogs beside vehicles in the Sand Pits after a dog owned by Trudy Hause (right) was hit. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo |
The Sand Pits is an area around the intersection of Highway 3 and Deh Cho Boulevard where people are allowed to let dogs run around without a leash. The area is also frequently used by trucks and recreational vehicles.
The issue came to council after Trudy Hause's dog, Elwood, was hit by a driver running her dog alongside her truck. The yorkie-schnauzer cross ran toward the dog running with the truck but was hit. Elwood was injured but survived.
The way the current dog bylaw is written prohibits allowing dogs to be run alongside vehicles on roads.
There is no prohibition for the Sand Pits because it's not a roadway. Melissa Ruf, a dog trainer from Ontario who has lived in Yellowknife, called on council to prohibit the practice.
"I ask that you prohibit this dangerous practice throughout the city," Ruf said, adding she thinks a speed limit of 15 km/h should also be imposed at the Sand Pits.
Ruf said she doesn't consider any of the current off-leash areas in the city safe. The other off-leash areas are Tin Can Hill, Fiddler's Lake Road and a fenced off area behind the Yellowknife Community Arena.
"Tin Can Hill is full of sharp metal and broken glass," she said. "The sewage lagoon road has large trucks travelling alongside it and the Sand Pits are scattered with hazardous trash and motorized traffic and vehicles in motion."
Hause didn't address council but watched from the public gallery, tearing up as the issue was discussed. Dennis Kefalas, acting senior administrative officer, said staff could provide some information to council in a few weeks.
If council decides to seek changes to the bylaw, that pushes the timeline into early January.
