Following a pair of dogs which were running loose in the community, one of which was aggressive, Bashaw town council discussed the situation during its Jan. 17 meeting.
The Town of Bashaw announced on Facebook on Jan. 10 that a pair of German Shepherd dogs were running loose in the community.
“Two different agencies assist in helping capture the at-large dogs,” said chief administrative officer (CAO) Theresa Fuller.
Fuller noted that the Town of Bashaw is currently contracted with Camrose County for bylaw enforcement, as that municipality has peace officers who can issue tickets.
On the capture side, the town contracts with Old MacDonald Kennels and Animal Services.
“They worked in tandem with Camrose County,” said Fuller, in her report to council.
According to Fuller, the dogs were in the process of being transferred to a foster home when they became at large. With one dog being aggressive, Fuller deemed the situation “dangerous” and “engaged all Old MacDonald’s abilities” to capture the animals.
“With those services, we would be footing the bill,” said Fuller.
According to Fuller, two individuals were bit while the animals were at large.
“The formal process is fines and tickets, then with biting someone you take them to court,” said Fuller
“It’s a challenge … moving forward there may be a likelihood that the town will be footing the whole bill.”
The dogs were loose in the community for approximately 24 hours before they were captured. During that time the town shared on Facebook updates, and requests asking people not to feed them.
“To me, even though this took approximately 24 hours, the town was very direct with this,” said Coun. Kyle McIntosh.
Deputy Mayor Cindy Oram noted that the only change she would have liked to see in the handling of the communications was for an alert, or alerts, to have gone out over Voyent Alert, the mobile phone app the village uses to update residents on activities such as snow clearing.
