Mount Currie Chief Lucinda Phillips is calling for amendments to the band’s animal bylaw that would see pit bulls banned from the reserve, while the Lil’wat leader has also said she believes dogs should no longer be permitted in band-owned rental housing.
Phillips voiced her support for the bans in the Lil’wat Nation’s September newsletter, just a few weeks after three pit bulls attacked a community member and an RCMP officer in Mount Currie, putting both into the hospital for stitches.
Phillips told The Question that she is a believer in the ‘blame the owner, not the breed’ mantra that is touted by pit-bull advocates. However, she also said the attack earlier this summer was an example of how some Mount Currie residents are failing to raise the dogs properly.
“I have absolutely nothing against pit bulls at all,” she said. “Banning them from my community is a decision I’m basing because my community members are not taking care of their dogs. It’s definitely the owners’ fault, not the dogs’.”
Phillips said the idea of a pit bull ban has received support from other members sitting at the council table, as well as in feedback from those reading her newsletter piece.
“The ones that own the pit bulls obviously aren’t very happy with me, but the community at large is definitely supporting any and all initiatives that I have been doing with the dogs,” said Phillips, who added that pit bulls already living in Mount Currie could potentially be grandfathered in via a bylaw amendment.
Phillips also said she plans to work with the band’s Housing Board on getting dogs out of the rental units after recent visits to townhouse complexes like the one where the attack took place.
“There are a lot of young families living within them… and there was dog feces everywhere,” she said. “They’re not fenced-up, small pieces of property (to) each townhouse. It’s one big backyard for the kids to play in, but it was just kind of a mess.”
Whistler Animals Galore (WAG) has been working closely with the band this summer on a project encouraging Mount Currie residents to register their dogs or give them up voluntarily to send to new homes. WAG executive director Paula Del Bosco said she would support both bans if band officials felt it was in the best interests of the community.
“If they feel that’s a concern, if they feel that more of the unwanted numbers are coming from the rental areas… I’m definitely following along with them and agreeing with the choices they make,” she said. “Maybe they’ll ban pit bulls now and once people start understanding more… and keeping their dogs under control, perhaps they can alleviate that and remove that ban.
“But until that point, they might as well start somewhere and that’s where they’ve had a problem before.”
A dog round-up is set to take place in Mount Currie later this month, which will see any unregistered dogs collected and taken to the WAG shelter.
Del Bosco said a mother and her 13 pups were brought in from Mount Currie this past weekend, which pushed the number given up voluntarily since early August to more than two-dozen. Approximately 30 were registered, which Phillips said was lower than she was hoping.
However, Del Bosco said she expects those numbers to rise once community members see unlicensed dogs being removed.
“I think once they start putting some enforcements in, that’s when people will say ‘I guess they’re really serious,’” she said. “When they realize there’s somebody driving around (collecting dogs)… and people realize they have to do this, we’ll see some more movement.
“I think if you were to check back at the end of October, the number will have gone up substantially.”
Free dog collars are offered as part of the registration initiative. Del Bosco also said a spay or neuter is free upon registration as WAG and the band look for ways to decrease the population of unwanted dogs in Mount Currie.
