Municipal staff is working to clarify details associated with a recently amended bylaw regarding the sale of non-rescue animals in pet stores.
Although the amendment to the Responsible Animal Ownership by-law is in effect, there are still questions as to how it will be enforced within Chatham-Kent.
To address these issues/concerns, council was pulled into committee Monday night, towards the end of the council meeting.
"Basically what's going to be happening is [municipal staff] is going to figure out definitions for what constitutes as a rescue animal ... [They will also be] designing what enforcement is going to look like, and what the fines would look like," said Councillor Brock McGregor.
McGregor, who brought forward the successful motion to prohibit the sale of non-rescue animals in pet stores in April, said the issue of policing was to be expected.
"Our job is to set direction and we have competent administers to put together those recommendations, so in my view, this was what was always going to happen," he said. "There'd be some delayed enforcement as we define terms."
Since passing the motion at the last council meeting, McGregor adds the public response has been mostly positive.
"Just recently in San Francisco, they passed a similar prohibition, so it's interesting to see that this movement is gaining momentum in different areas across North America -- and that's real positive when we're looking at animal welfare," said McGregor.
Administration will come back to council at a later date with clarifications on how the matter will be policed in Chatham-Kent.
