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City of Winnipeg Animal Services Agency – A Dog’s Best Friend!

Posted by Windog / in Features, INFORMATION / 1 comment

City of Winnipeg Animal Services Agency – A Dog’s Best Friend!
Over the past month WINDOG has received a few complaints from dog owners who failed to renew their licenses. As a result of Winnipeg Animal Services’ “Spot” checks, these dog owners received a hand-delivered $231.25 fine.
Some observers mistakenly view the fine as cash grab, however none of the revenue from fines goes to Animal Services. The fine is paid to directly to the Provincial Department of Finance to cover court costs and the city’s legal fees.
For the record, WINDOG and its member organizations fully support Animal Services’ Zero Tolerance licensing policy. Funds raised through the sale of licenses have allowed Animal Services to transform Winnipeg’s former dog pound into a virtually no-kill facility where lost and abandoned dogs are fed and sheltered.

Nine-week-old Mandy cuddles with an Animal Services Officer after the puppy was thrown from a moving vehicle.
Photo credit: City of Winnipeg

Ninety-five per cent of the dogs that are picked up and taken to the shelter are either reunited with their owners, adopted, or sent to a local animal rescue. Only animals considered too aggressive or terminally ill are euthanized. Since the Zero Tolerance policy was introduced the number of dogs euthanized has dropped dramatically. In 2008, 359 dogs were euthanized. By 2014, that number dropped to 52.

Animal Services estimates there are over 112,000 pet dogs in Winnipeg. About 50,000 are currently licensed.

Animal Services COO, Leland Gordon, makes it clear that license fees generate the revenue the City of Winnipeg needs to deliver services to pets and pet owners. “When you pay your $32 for a dog license you’re protecting your dog – but you’re also paying for a system that provides the services the community needs.” Animal Services depends on license fees to run its operations.

• Animal Services houses and cares for lost and abandoned pets.

Most pets never get loose and go missing. No one plans to have a break-in, house fire, or car accident; no one expects a gate left open or a freshly dug escape tunnel under the backyard fence. Licensing your pet is about providing it with protection in the rare event it does get lost. Licenses are $32 for spayed/neutered dogs and $68 for intact ones; $15 for spayed/neutered cats and $50 for intact ones.

The City of Winnipeg has Animal Services in place to be the facility where Winnipeggers can take stray dogs and the Winnipeg Humane Society through a service agreement as the facility where Winnipeggers can take stray cats.

Adorable adoptables Noah and Eva were found near the corner of Ellice and Wall
Photo credit: City of Winnipeg

• Animal Services re-unite lost pets with their owners.

The agency receives more than 12,000 calls for service a year. In 2014, thanks to mandatory dog licensing and the agency’s “Free Ride Home” program, Animal Services returned 671 dogs to their owners. 646 more were reunited with their owners by 311 operators without setting foot in the Animal Services facility.

• Animal Services’ Adoption Program allows dogs to be adopted into new families instead of being euthanized.

Animal Services Adoption/Volunteer Coordinator Lorna Verschoore with adoptive family
Photo credit: City of Winnipeg

• Animal Services funds emergency veterinary care for injured lost and abandoned animals and provides transportation to a veterinary facility.

• Animal Services funds spay and neuter programming, including the FIXIT grant program designed to encourage non-profit community organizations, veterinary clinics, animal hospitals and educational institutions to undertake quality programs to spay and neuter high volumes of cats at a low cost to the community.

• Animal Services provides a 24/7 emergency response service to police and fire fighters, attending house fires, car accidents, and police assists to remove and care for animals.

A matted cat pulled from the ashes by firefighters is transferred to Animal Services.
Photo credit: Winnipeg Free Press

Animal Services also uses revenue from the sale of pet licenses to:

• educate the public about responsible pet ownership
• pick up stray animals, including dogs that have attacked people.
• resolve neighbourhood disputes regarding animals

Visit www.winnipeg.ca/animalservices to license, adopt, or volunteer

Erosion of Winnipeg’s Off-Leash Recreational Green Space

Posted by Windog / in Features, INFORMATION / 5 comments

WINDOG has called on City Council to address the alarming loss of Winnipeg’s off-leash recreational green space by ensuring adequate funding is available in the 2016 Capital Budget for the city’s first comprehensive off-leash area management plan.
Off-leash space continues to shrink rapidly under the watch of a recently elected “dog-friendly” Mayor and Council. Over the past few years the city has lost approximately 35% of its off-leash space.

Despite the City’s highly-publicized plan to open a new half-acre dog park in the downtown area and another one-acre park in Transcona, Winnipeg’s off-leash green space continues to shrink at a disturbing rate. In recent months 40 acres of off-leash space has been lost at Brenda Leipsic and 12 more at the dog park known as Sturgeon and Silver. Dog owners have done the math – 1.5 acres gained, 52 lost. Some of the loss is temporary; some is permanent.

   

While the City administration is unable to provide exact figures, municipal maps indicate at least 80 acres of off-leash space were lost when Little Mountain and Maple Grove were reduced by more than half their original size and Transcona’s Buffer Zone and Stephen Juba dog parks were closed.

With the latest closures at Brenda Leipsic and Sturgeon and Silver, Winnipeg’s off-leash green space has shrunk from approximately 380 acres to less than 250. Moreover, the distribution across the city is uneven; over half of the City’s off-leash space is at Kilcona Park.
The 12 acre off-leash dog park at the intersection of Sturgeon Road and Silver Avenue in northwest Winnipeg was closed last August for the construction of a traffic roundabout to improve traffic flow.

Sturgeon and Silver intersection before roundabout

Plan for roundabout construction

Sturgeon and Silver Dog Park lies on the western fringe of Murray Industrial Park. The off-leash area is located on land that the City has designated as a street right of way. That means this parcel – like Charleswood, is not reserved for parkland or green space, but rather for road construction.

In recent years there has been much activity near Sturgeon and Silver, including construction of a four-lane divided expressway to serve Winnipeg’s growing inland port. In 2013, CentrePort Canada Way opened, with an extension to Sturgeon. Silver Avenue will also be extended. The current closure of the dog park is temporary, but at some point, the closure will be permanent.

Nancy Ellen Noren organized a petition, protesting the construction of the roundabout and lack of public consultation.

On January 21, the City closed Brenda Leipsic Dog Park for construction of the Southwest Rapid Transit Corridor through the Parker Wetlands. Leading up to the closure, WINDOG joined the Brenda Leipsic Dog Parkers, the Winnipeg Humane Society, the Parker Wetlands Conservation Group, dog owners and area residents, in appealing the Minister of Conservation and Water Stewardship’s decision to issue environmental licenses to the City. The province hasn’t ruled on the appeal but Manitoba Hydro has begun work to relocate its transmission lines in preparation for corridor construction.

The City will re-open a much smaller version of Brenda Leipsic Dog Park in the fall of 2019. At 20 acres, the new off-leash area will be half the size of the original dog park.

Critics say that, in downsizing Brenda Leipsic, the City has not taken into consideration the significant increase in the number of people and dogs that will be using the park when a new residential development opens across the street from the off-leash area. Their concern is that the replacement dog park is not large enough to accommodate the increase in use.
The closure of Brenda Leipsic leaves River Heights-Fort Garry ward without any off-leash space. A temporary dog park, which Gem Equities architect Lawrence Bird describes as “unofficial”, has been established on private land owned by real estate developer, Andrew Marquess.
Dog owners have access to the area until Gem Equity begins construction of approximately 1700 low, medium and high density residential units. Gem Equities held an open house last night to unveil conceptual plans for development of the Oak Grove subdivision.

Gem Equities open house board. Yellow – Oak Grove subdivision which serves as a temporary, unofficial off-leash area. Green – City of Winnipeg 2019 replacement dog park.
Great cities have great parks for all their citizens. Mayor Bowman and those City Councillors who have identified themselves as “dog friendly” need to fulfil their commitment to provide high quality off-leash recreational green space if they expect the support of Winnipeg dog owners.
Council’s first step is to ensure that adequate funding is available in the 2016 Capital Budget for the city’s first comprehensive off-leash area management plan. Its second obligation is to stop the practice of establishing temporary off-leash areas like Sturgeon and Silver and Brenda Leipsic on road allowances and Hydro easements and create permanent dog parks located on designated parkland.