Montreal’s new administration has temporarily put on hold the city’s controversial ban on pit bull-type dogs.
The city says it is suspending the ban as well as specific sections pertaining to the breed such as mandatory muzzling and special permits.
The measures were ratified by the city’s executive committee today.
Coun. Craig Sauve says a new bylaw will be introduced sometime in the first half of 2018.
Sauve says he expects a vast consultation process to be held before then involving scientific experts, animal-behaviour experts as well as dog-owners and people who don’t own dogs.
Ex-mayor Denis Coderre’s administration passed a bylaw in 2016 forbidding such canines.
Mayor Valerie Plante says she is in favour of a global approach in dealing with dog bites and that her administration has a responsibility to avoid creating a false sense of security by targeting one breed.
Plante’s Projet Montreal party made repealing the pit bull law a promise during this year’s election campaign.
The Canadian Press
