Portage la Prairie's Animal Control By-law has officially been changed. This week's council meeting saw the proposed amendments approved by city Council, which came as a result of a long, emotional appeal hearing on the fate of a dog back in February. While several of the changes simply aim to provide clarification, others relate directly to challenges from the hearing earlier this year. Public Safety Chair Ryan Espey says the most noticeable change is that Council has eliminated the ability for citizens to appeal a decision made by the city's dangerous animal committee, noting that will address some of the issues previously seen.

"I felt from going through the whole thing, that there might have been a communication breakdown. Some information was possibly lost at the first hearing, and some of it was not presented as well as it could have been at the appeal process. I think it's important that there's just one, and people take that as serious as they possibly can."

The February hearing saw Council decide to overturn the decision to euthanize the animal while ensuring it was rehomed away from children. The decision saw some concerns from both sides of the issue, but Council felt it was the only way to spare the animal, without possibly endangering any children.

"That one did have some fallout, and one of the positive things to come out of that is that we streamlined our by-law and made it a lot more clear. If that ever does come up again, hopefully, it will be resolved in an appropriate way that may not be happy for everyone. At least they'll walk away knowing they were heard, and all information and evidence was presented and considered."

Following the direction of the February decision, the new by-law also aims to reduce the chance of euthanization. A newly added clause states "All efforts to re-home an animal will be exhausted before the animal is destroyed, unless for medical reasons and only on the advice of a veterinarian." However, the by-law could also allow the animal, classified as a dangerous animal, be released back to the owner subject to conditions being met.