KITCHENER BYLAW BANS BIRDS by C. Holoboff

October 1999

The City of Kitchener has just become a very unfriendly place for bird owners, breeders and pet stores. On Monday, October 4, City Council passed a new Animal Control Bylaw which seriously affects local pet bird owners and breeders and sets back domestic breeding for conservation purposes.

Although the overwhelming majority of people who made oral deputations to Council opposed the bylaw, City Council ignored them and sided with the minority animal extremists. With this bylaw, Kitchener will ban many animals, including most birds, that are commonly kept as pets. There are only 13 animals on the permitted list that will be allowed in Kitchener and all others are basically prohibited. Although it says that all birds are permitted, it then defines them in a way that puts them into the prohibited category.

Basically wild caught birds and birds whose parents were wild caught will be illegal. This includes most parrots and other birds. Although all birds coming into the pet trade for the past decade have been domestically bred by local and national breeders and are not being taken out of the wild, there are many birds,
especially parrots, that people have owned for many years that were wild caught when it was legal to do so. These will automatically become illegal in Kitchener. This will even apply to birds that have been owned for 30 or 40 years.

Under the Bylaw you must register any birds that were wild caught with the City Poundkeeper before February 15, 2000 or within seven days of acquiring them. The City’s lawyer said that this provision is intended to "grandfather" existing birds but most deputants expressed concern that it was an attempt by the City to
compile a list for future confiscation. Neither the City Solicitor nor any Councillor would give a clear unequivocal assurance that this would not occur. A new Animal Designation Appeal Committee is to be set up and will decide what species of birds should be prohibited in the future. (Note that the corresponding provision dealing with mammals allows the Committee to decide which will be
permitted, not prohibited, but there is no corresponding provision for birds). All that it will take is a request from "a resident" to the Committee between January 1 and February 15 of each year. Many of the deputants believe that animal activist groups will launch an annual campaign to prohibit ever greater numbers each
year.

The Committee will also be able to prohibit any bird species that have been captive bred for less than six generations, or if it thinks that the general public is not capable of caring for it. City Council ignored entirely many objectors that pointed out it was impossible to prove that a bird has been domestically bred for six generations since no one gets this kind of information when they purchase a
bird. Most people would not even know who the breeder was, especially if they purchased it from a pet store.

To top it off, almost any municipal official, including the plumbing inspector, can enforce this bylaw. It also goes so far as to suggest that he can enter your home to do so! This is clearly wrong since not even a police officer can do that without a
warrant.

These provisions were vigorously contested by the vast majority of people who made presentations to Council and to the Committee last week (25 against it versus four in favor).

Some of the recommendations that were made and rejected are:

• Do not pass a bylaw that contradicts federal and provincial legislation and is outside the jurisdiction of a municipal Council. It has been illegal to trade in wild caught animals throughout Canada for over a decade and the federal government passed the Wild Animal and Plant Protection Act which specifically prohibits trade of wild animals for commercial purposes. It is serious legislation which provides for fines up to $300,000.00 and imprisonment for five years and was prepared after consultation with all interested and affected persons across Canada, not just animal activist groups.The Ontario Court of Appeal decided seven years ago that a City did not have jurisdiction to pass a bylaw of this type and that it was therefore illegal.
  
  
• Remove the term "wild caught" entirely because it is impossible to determine and is, therefore, impossible to enforce. It only allows opportunity for abuse of the most vulnerable members of society by overzealous, although perhaps well intentioned, enforcement officers.
  
  
• If Council insists on keeping the wild caught definition, at least provide an exemption for those birds allowed under federal or provincial legislation. Otherwise Kitchener will be making it illegal to keep birds that are legal everywhere else in Canada!
  
  
• Provide a very clear "grandfather" provision which states that birds which are currently owned are exempt from the bylaw. This is only fair and just to the people who have owned such birds for many years and to ensure that a subsequent council or the new "Animal Designation Appeal Committee" does not decide later to ban them entirely.
  
  
• Remove the six generation requirement which makes absolutely no sense and is completely incapable of proof.
  
  
• Remove these Orwellian registration requirements which essentially force innocent people to declare their pets and aviary birds to be prohibited animals and turn themselves into the municipal authorities.
  
  
• Get rid of the categories; permitted, restricted and prohibited animals. No one can understand them and they will lead to confusion and abuse.
  
  
• Do not adopt provisions that will result in the end of domestic breeding for species preservation when the real threat that should be addressed is habitat destruction. Allow bona fide breeders to legally acquire wild caught birds to rejuvenate gene pools, as allowed under the federal legislation on a strict permit basis. This is universally supported by international experts.
  
  
• Clarify what the City’s intentions are with respect to birds that suddenly are prohibited and illegal. Provide clear assurances that there will not be any confiscation.
  
  
• Do not download the administrative headaches and huge enforcement costs from the feds and the province to the City.
  
  
• Do not interfere with the special, loving relationship that people have with their pets.
  

What does this bylaw mean in practical terms? Obviously, the City of Kitchener is not going to send out bylaw enforcement officers to private homes to seize pet birds. Aside from not having the manpower, they would never get a search warrant. The City’s own lawyer has clearly and publicly admitted that the onus is on the City to prove that the bird is wild caught. She even went so far as to say all parrots are legal and meet the six generation requirement because they have been bred in captivity for thousands of years. (However, she could not explain why parrots were not then specifically included on the list of permitted animals.)

Most, if not all, people will not register their birds because they have been domestically bred. You only have to register if you know that they were wild caught. Remember that the onus is on the City to prove it, not on you. Also, the City Solicitor has said that birds commonly kept as pets are not prohibited under the bylaw and you can, therefore, assume that you do not have to register.

However, it is going to seriously affect breeders and local pet stores. They are the ones that will be targeted by the animal extremists and enforcement officers. (One of the extremists who spoke in favor of the bylaw actually said that he could identify a wild caught animal just by looking at it. ) Eventually breeders will
become demoralized and discouraged and stop breeding, both for domestic and conservation purposes. This will result in many birds disappearing not only from our homes but from the wild as their habitat continues to be destroyed. As other communities copy Kitchener, this personal and ecological disaster will spread
around the province and the country unless concerned bird owners, breeders and small businesses do something about it.

The animal extremists are very well organized and well funded. They have cultivated contacts within City Hall and at other levels of government and are constantly trying to influence and write new legislation prohibiting the use of animals by humans in any manner whatsoever, not only as pets.

The "silent majority" of bird owners has to do the same. Every one of us has to become involved at the local level and regularly speak to our City Councillors and tell them how we feel about these kinds of bylaws. We have to monitor what goes on at City Hall because these laws are usually hatched in secret and it is too
late to change the course of events when a committee or legal department is recommending the draft bylaw to City Council.

These bylaws are usually drafted by a Committee established for that purpose, (in Kitchener it was the Ad Hoc Committee) which is dominated by animal extremists. Bird owners definitely have to get on the Animal Designation Appeal Committee to make sure that the six generation clause is never implemented and other prohibitions are not passed. Call City Hall or your local Councillor and volunteer for it.

We have to keep an eye on City Hall and catch these proposed bylaws before they get too far. Simply calling and asking the City Clerk will get you on a mailing list for any proposed changes to the City’s bylaws affecting animals. Ask your local Councillor to inform you of any request for changes to the animal bylaws and it
is his duty to keep his constituents informed. Check with your Councillor regularly, at least every six months.

Join a local bird club (in Kitchener it is the Golden Triangle Parrot Club) and set up your own committee to monitor proposed legislation and to make your own proposals.

Several organizations and individual people were involved in the fight against this bylaw.

• The Avicultural Advancement Council of Canada, a national organization representing aviculturists across the country.
  
  
• The Parrot Association of Canada, a national group of parrot breeders and aviculturists dedicated to breeding parrots for conservation.
  
  
• The Golden Triangle Parrot Club, a local club with over 400 members which just celebrated its 25th Anniversary.
  
  
• The Budgerigar and Foreign Bird Society, a Toronto club that also helped to defeat the animal control bylaw that was proposed in that City.
  
  
• Many individuals including biologists, teachers, internationally known aviculturists, pet store owners, PIJAC, and just plain concerned pet owners. Even the new manager of the Kitchener Humane Society supported us and opposed the bylaw.
  

The Avicultural Advancement Council of Canada is establishing a network of people nationwide to keep track of and fight these laws in their own communities. A.A.C.C. may be contacted at:

    Toronto Office:
    Suite 500, 27 Queen Street East
    Toronto, Ontario M5C 2M6
    Fax: (416) 362-5013
    E-mail: choloboff@aol.com

    Victoria Office:
    P.O. Box 5126, Station B
    Victoria. B.C. V8R 6N4
    Fax: (250) 477-9935
    E-mail: aacc@home.com
    Website: www.islandnet.com/~aacc

JOIN US AND VOLUNTEER

Kitchener City Council went against the wishes of the majority to pass a law that is supported only by a vocal minority of well connected activists. As one deputant said "this is not how a democracy is supposed to work." Get involved and make it work in your community.

ACTION STEPS YOU CAN TAKE

We have to keep an eye on City Hall and catch these proposed bylaws before they get too far.

Find out who your local Councillor is.

It is best if you can visit him. Ask your local Councillor to inform you of any request for changes to the animal bylaws and it is his duty to keep his constituents informed.

Simply calling and asking the City Clerk will get you on a mailing list for any proposed changes to the City's bylaws affecting animals. In Toronto, this comes under the Board of Health.

Check with your Councillor regularly, at least every six months.

Join a local bird club and set up your own committee to monitor proposed legislation and to make your own proposals.

Keep a record of the following.

Councillor's Name:
Phone Number:
Department/Title of Person I should call re: Animal Bylaws at City
Hall:
Phone Number:
Now make those calls and then mark your calendar for 4-6
months to call again.