People in the Cowichan Valley Regional District who have lost livestock to attacks from unlicensed dogs won’t be compensated by the district any longer.
The CVRD’s board decided at its meeting on Nov. 13 to remove livestock-compensation provisions from its bylaws after a presentation by Ian MacDonald, the district’s senior manager of inspections and enforcement in its land-use services department, at the electoral area services committee meeting on Nov. 6.
MacDonald said providing compensation for livestock lost to wild dogs in the CVRD has become outdated and is no longer supported by neighbouring local governments as compensation is available from the province through the Agriculture Wildlife Program.
He said requests for the compensation to the CVRD have become very rare in recent years.
“It can be difficult to prove that the livestock in question was killed by a dog or other wild animal, so most people are not qualifying anymore because the burden of proof just isn’t there,” MacDonald said.
“What happens is the livestock are actually being killed by other means, such as cougars and other things, in a lot of cases. As well, after working with our animal-control contractor, it looks like the issue about 30 years ago was actually dogs on reserves that were running loose a lot of times, but I’ve been told they are actually doing a great job now looking after the dogs with regulations and officers that look after that, so it’s much less of a problem now.”
Besides, MacDonald pointed out that the financial options for the district to continue support for the compensation for livestock destroyed by unlicensed dogs are limited.
He said the CVRD had increased dog licensing fees by $10 last year, so a further increase to fees to help cover the costs may potentially have a negative effect on the number of annual licences sold.
“Kennel licences, which cost between $175 and $200, have not seen a fee increase for a number of years, however, as there are currently only nine licensed kennels in the CVRD, this would amount to almost a 100 per cent increase per kennel,” MacDonald said.
He said the board could consider increasing its budget for animal-control services, but staff do not support that, or the other options.
“Should the board opt to continue to provide compensation requests, additional funds to cover the associated costs will be required through requisition as there is no current funding in the budget for 2024,” MacDonald said.
Alison Nicholson, director for Cowichan Station/Sahtlam/Glenora, said she supports staff’s recommendation to discontinue providing compensation for livestock attacked by unlicensed dogs.
But she said she has lost six sheep to cougars or dogs, so it continues to be an issue.
“It’s usually neighbours who don’t mean to have a problem dog, but they do and I agree that it’s very difficult to prove it unless you have a camera with you at the time you see it happen,” Nicholson said.
“I did read the [province’s] Livestock Act and the compensation from that is only available if you apply within 48 hours [after the attack]. The times I’ve had dog issues, I was never told about the possibility of compensation through the CVRD or through the Livestock Act and if we don’t provide [compensation any longer], it’s up to us to do a service for the community and make sure they get the information they need in a timely way.”
MacDonald clarified that it’s attacks from unlicensed dogs that are covered by the province and were covered by the CVRD.
“If you know who the dog is, then it’s a civil matter and they will go after whoever owns the dog,” he said. “It’s only attacks by wild dogs that are covered, and attacks by cougars and other wild animals are not covered.”
