AACC, PAC, BFBS and many bird lovers were successful in obtaining substantial and necessary changes to a controversial Animal Control By-law in Milton, Ontario. Town staff agreed to change the proposed By-law which would have limited ownership to two birds regardless of their size and would have effectively eliminated breeding as well as the sale of birds by pet stores in Milton.

Over 50 people, mostly the "bird kind", showed up at the Public Information Meeting on August 9,2004 to protest the proposed By-law. Eighteen people made oral deputations and almost all of them were on behalf of pet and aviary birds. Many people also submitted written comments and e-mails.

As originally proposed, the By-law:

• Would have limited the number of birds that you could keep in Milton to two, regardless of size, finches to macaws, both in town and in the rural areas.
  
  
• Would have completely eliminated hobby breeding for shows and for personal education and enjoyment.
  
  
• Would have prohibited the keeping of any species listed in the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act (WAPPRIITA), which includes most parrots.
  
  
• Had no grandfathering provision allowing you to keep the birds you currently own which would have resulted in the wholesale destruction or other disposition of thousands of pet and aviary birds.
  

In the end Town Staff saw the reasonableness of our arguments and amended the proposed By-law as follows:

• The section limiting ownership to two birds per person has been removed.
  
  
• References to WAPPRIITA and to the Ontario Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act have also been removed.
  
  
• A section has been included that grandfathers existing animals, allowing you to keep the ones that you currently have. It does require registration of those animals, which we are opposed to, but this has no real effect on birds because registration does not appear to apply to them.
  

Other sections have been changed to exempt businesses that are otherwise operating lawfully under applicable laws and regulations. This should be of comfort to pet stores and other pet related businesses. For those who are interested, the limit on rabbits, ferrets and other small animals has also been removed.

To give some idea of the amount of work that went into this project, as soon as we were alerted to the pending By-law, it was downloaded from the Town's website and reviewed and analysed for its possible legal and practical consequences. Alternative provisions were drafted for consideration by Town Staff.

All relevant information was gathered as to when and where Public Meetings were to be held and Deputations were to be made. An 'Urgent Notice to All Bird Owners' was prepared which provided that information, summarized the serious effects of the proposed By-law and suggested arguments to be made against it. That Notice was sent out to as many bird clubs as possible and posted on the AACC, PAC and BFBS websites and various other websites, chat rooms and list serves across the country.

Written deputations were prepared by a number of people and filed with the Town Clerk prior to the first Public Information Meeting on August 9. Many people took the time to attend that meeting and to get up and make presentations on why they opposed the By-law. The Deputy Clerk, Licencing and Election Administrator and By-Law Officer conducted the meeting, heard the deputations and collected information for review. They assured us that our comments would be incorporated in their report to Council. Three Councillors also attended the meeting and questioned deputants on various issues.

It was disappointing that no bird owners from Milton attended this meeting or subsequent meetings. (One of the Councillors commented that there were "only outsiders" at the Public Meeting.)

Within a few days, the Clerk posted a revised version of the By-law with changes that were a direct result of our deputations and presentations. A full Public Meeting before Town Council scheduled for August 30 was rescheduled for later in September and another Public Meeting before a Standing Committee was slated to hear further deputations. We prepared an updated report which was again published in as many places as possible to give everyone information on what had occurred and on what had yet to be done.

Although we were pleased with these changes, Town Staff made other changes which had not been requested and which raised new problems. For example, a change was made to the definition of a "domestic animal" which excluded all animals "wild by nature." I pointed out in correspondence to them that all birds could be considered wild by nature and commonly kept pet birds could become illegal under this provision. It certainly would ban all wild birds kept by breeders and other aviculturists.

They agreed to change the definition and to make other changes that we had requested and the final version of the draft By-law was acceptable overall. This just demonstrates the degree of diligence and attention that has to be paid even to the changes Town Staff make to these by-laws to ensure that nothing is slipped in that has an unexpected and undesirable effect.

Another Public Meeting was held on September 13 and the Standing Committee basically adopted the Staff Report and By-law. Fortunately we had a representative monitoring that meeting and she provided further comments for the Committee's consideration. The final version was presented to Town Council on September 27 and was passed without further debate. Again our representative was present to ensure that no last minute changes escaped our attention.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this effort. The result shows just how important it is for everyone to participate in these by-law initiatives and demonstrates that we can change things for the common good through our combined efforts. A special thank you goes to Denise Antler who attended every meeting (and her husband Tim who drove her to them!) to ensure that Milton Council did the right thing by us all.

August, 2004                                             CHRISTOPHER HOLOBOFF
                                                                        Avicultural Advancement Council of Canada
                                                                         Parrot Association of Canada
                                                                         Budgerigar and Foreign Bird Society of Canada