October 10th, 2014
By Sasha Kalis
A proposed amendment to the City of Portage la Prairie's animal control by-law will receive second and third reading next Tuesday. Councillor Ryan Espey says the previous animal control officer has retired after long years of service to the city, noting council is grateful to Wendell Hawker for all his hard work. Espey says the Corps of Commissionaires has been hired to replace Hawker, so they will bring in a full time animal control officer. He notes the changes will enable council to lower the costs of these services, adding the city is slated to save eleven thousand dollars.
Espey says they have an agreement in principle with the RM of Portage to supply an animal shelter which will be operated under the code of practice for the Canadian Kennel Operations. He notes Hawker owned the original building and sold the facility upon his retirement, so the city needed a new place to house animals. Espey adds the new location in the RM is a private residence, so they're not asking people to come out there if an animal goes missing. He says what they'll do instead is take pictures and post them on the city's website. Espey notes the animal control officer will also carry an iPad with a database of photos, so if your pet goes missing and one of the pictures meets the description, someone will actually escort you to the new kennel in the rural municipality.